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