

NASA Rejection Letter to Woman in 1962 Was Blunt - daegloe
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/nasa-rejection-letter-to-woman-in-1962-was-blunt--no-girls-allowed-181854889.html

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beloch
What the early NASA program did in the 50's and 60's was only made possible by
accepting risks that would curdle the blood of today's risk-averse NASA
administration. The U.S. has a long history of very chivalrously protecting
its women-folk from such "front-line" service. It wasn't until 1988 that the
first female pilot was cleared for combat in the USAF, let alone test-pilot
duty! The U.S. army, unlike many of its allies, still does not permit women in
front line combat, although they have announced their intention to change
this.

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-usa-military-
wo...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-usa-military-women-
idUSBRE90M1FI20130124)

Reflecting the danger of the job, the first few classes of astronauts were
required, by president Eisenhower's directive, to be military test pilots.
These were men whose profession necessarily required them to accept a large
degree of risk. Had one of these early missions resulted in fatalities the
government would have been able to draw on past experience explaining the
death of test pilots to the public. This requirement would not change until
1965 when scientists holding PhD's would be permitted into the program. This
explains why NASA was not considering women in 1962. None existed that met the
President's requirements. If you want to call somebody sexist for rejecting
Miss Kelly, look no further than the oval office!

Valentina Tereshkova, for comparison, was not a military test pilot, or even a
pilot at all. She was experienced with parachuting, but only in an amateur
capacity. She did not compete with men and become an astronaut purely based on
merit. The USSR's space program decided specifically to send a woman into
orbit as a political statement and to see how female physiology stood up to
space travel. Several women were considered for this honor and Tereshkova was
chosen as much for her proletariat background as her parachuting experience.
The first woman in space was a symbol, nothing more.

The second woman in space, and the first to perform a space walk, would not
come along for another 19 years. Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya was a test
pilot and a real cosmonaut, not just a symbol. She deserves the credit
Tereshkova usually gets. Sally Ride would become the U.S.'s first female
astronaut a year after Savitskaya's first mission, but this was only made
possible by the perception of relative safety offered by the shuttle program
and NASA's creation of the mission specialist class of astronauts. Had the
challenger disaster occurred prior to Ride's first mission, it's very possible
the U.S. might still have yet to send a female astronaut into space.

------
eksith
And barely over a year later, Valentina Tereshkova kicks NASA in the teeth.
Wonder how Mr. Lloyd felt when that happened.

> Original Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton wrote in 1970 to future NASA
> astronaut Marsha Ivins, ‘The exact time when we would seriously consider
> women is indefinite, but I am sure it is inevitable.’”

NASA was most definitely a boys club back in the day. I mean, you can see the
old footage of the guys dealing with the Apollo 13 mess (
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOKVHhFVJU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOKVHhFVJU)
whoever chose the music for that should have been fired ) you can see just how
much testosterone was in the air... along with the cigarette smoke.

It's a strange dichotomy that the "Free world" was less free to women at the
time than a Communist country.

~~~
dvt
I think you are confused. Valentina Tereshkova was selected by the USSR not
for any noble reason, but for the equally sexist-reasons "Miss Kelly" was
denied -- because she was a woman.

If you think the USSR was less sexist than the USA in the 50s and 60s, you are
vastly mistaken.

~~~
eksith
How about we ask a former communist?

[http://lunardefensecorps.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-ussr-
women...](http://lunardefensecorps.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-ussr-womens-
rights-and-feminism.html)

~~~
dvt
I'd prefer to read some scholarly articles/books on the topic (most of which
agree with my claim):

From: Sisterhood and Socialism: The Soviet Feminist Movement Rochelle
Ruthchild Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies , Vol. 7, No. 2 (1983), pp.
4-12

 _For the Club Maria, the "tragedy of women" is the reeminent example of the
moral crisis of Soviet communism, the hypocrisy, the abandonment of spiritual
values. For Mamonova, the Soviet system, despite its great promise, has become
simply the same old sexist wolf in socialist clothing._

Soviet Sisterhood, a relatively wide-spread book by Barbara Holland, was even
more critical of what feminists call the "patriarchy."

------
qwerta
Sex discrimination is serious issue, but there are also other forms of
discrimination nobody cares about.

European Space Agency does not take job applications from people over 55. Not
even for desk based jobs such as administrator or software developer. And this
is public agency which supports equal oportunities :-)

[http://www.esa.int/hr/PDF/ESA-VN-
ESTEC-2012-091,REV.1.pdf](http://www.esa.int/hr/PDF/ESA-VN-
ESTEC-2012-091,REV.1.pdf)

~~~
temp453463343
Oh this is symptomatic of a larger problem of age discrimination in Europe.
People have zero problem firing old people explicitly for their age. Many
academic institutions have hard set requirements for retirement at 65. It's
very very hard to work in to your 80s in Europe like it is in the US. (My
experience more of less limited to academia)

The idea (originating from France as far as I can tell) is that if you fire
all the old folks you will make more room for a younger generation. It's a
theory that has been disprove again and again. It's also why they try to cut
the work week. If everyone can only work 30 hours then there will be more
jobs! (Except it never ends up happening)

------
rayiner
The NASA rejection is somewhat unsurprising, because at that point in the
space program astronauts were drawn from the military. Of Apollo 11's three
crew, all three were in the military, and Armstrong and Aldrin both saw combat
in Korea. It wasn't until 1993 that the Air Force allowed women to fly
fighters on combat missions.

It's actually quite amazing to me how far women have come since the 1960's.
They went from essentially zero representation in the business world to
occupying substantial positions of power in just a few generations.

~~~
voidlogic
>"just a few generations"

Side question, wouldn't this be in less than a generation? After all most of
those born in 1960 are very much alive and kicking.

------
trothamel
There was a good article by James Oberg in The Space Review about this,
recently:

[http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2310/1](http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2310/1)

The response to the original letter seems very blunt, but the original letter
was written on the day of John Glenn's flight - back then, the requirement to
be an astronaut was to be a test pilot.

------
hedonist
To be fair to the 1962 NASA, they did say "women", not "girls." It's still
blatant sexism, but there's need to hyperbolize.

Unless of course all you care about is generating linkbait.

------
zerr
At least it was not a resume black hole. It even came with a real signature...

~~~
benatkin
And they addressed the question. Unlike the letter to a 7-year old boy at the
bottom of the article:

> “I heard that you are sending two people into Mars and I would like to come,
> but I’m seven so I can’t,” 7-year-old Dexter Walters first wrote to NASA. “I
> would like to come in the future. What do I need to do to become an
> astronaut?”

> The response, from the agency’s office of communications, told Walters,
> “NASA wants you to know that your thoughts and ideas to further space
> exploration are important, and we hope that you will continue to learn all
> you can about NASA's space programs, missions, and accomplishments.”

They didn't tell him what he needs to do at all, just that they hope he
continues to learn about it. Sad.

------
GravityWell
Frankly I think the letter is worded fine, and makes strong effort to be
polite. If one is suggesting the exclusion of women astronauts is the issue,
then that is a different thing entirely.

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chebucto
Funny story, my grandfather was an engineering grad who joined the RCAF during
WW2. He survived the war, and soon afterwards - I presume during the Gemini
recruitment drive - heard that NASA was looking for people with, basically,
his CV - technical/engineering background with piloting skills.

So, he applied, but was rejected. The reason? He was an alien, and NASA could
not hire aliens. Seriously.

------
smegel
Wouldn't a woman get a similar response from the Army if applying to join a
front-line combat unit? (assuming such a policy of exclusion still exists).

------
ryguytilidie
the "nor do we plan to have one" seemed unnecessary and mean.

~~~
ars
Quite the opposite. It's better to get a straight answer than to be left
hanging on a maybe.

You ever been in an airport where they have a delay, and every hour they tell
you it will be another hour?

Can't they just say 6 hours from the start?

------
gojomo
Different era is different. Plenty written today, perfectly in tune with
current right-thinking cutting-edge mores, will appear comically quaint and
unjust 50 years from now.

