NASA's First Female Astronauts Broke Barriers But Faced Challenges, Including Fatal Space Shuttle Disaster

Overview

• Loren Grush's book "The Six" tells the stories of NASA's first female astronauts, known as the Mercury 13.
• These women faced sexism, unequal treatment by the media, and questions about romance and sex in space.
• Sally Ride became the first American woman in space after significant efforts to diversify NASA's astronaut ranks.
• The book documents the experiences of the six women selected for NASA's Astronaut Group 8.
• The astronauts' careers included historic flights but were marked by tragedy with the Challenger disaster.