The Six by Loren Grush

An eye opening book about the first women in NASA's space program

The Six, by Loren Grush is the true story of NASA’s first six female astronauts.  I am so glad that I brought it with me to Michigan this summer, it has sat on my bookshelf in Virginia for well over a year.  Sitting outside on the porch I was transfixed by these women and their stories.

The first six female astronauts were all born in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Each had big dreams and faced even larger obstacles during the turbulent, and rather sexist, 1970s.  At that time in our history, women were still considered housewives and mothers. If they did work they were 'best suited' to teaching or secretarial work.

Out of the 8,000 applicants for the new NASA program, only six women were selected to join in 1978.  There were more than six that applied but it shows how reluctant NASA was to hire women. The women selected were Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.

Grush wrote in detail about each woman’s astronautical dreams and the career paths that led up to their selection by NASA.  While they all had an opportunity to fly into space at some time, only one, Sally Ride, was able to go first.  Ironically, while she was excited to go she regretted the celebrity that went with it.

I found it fascinating to learn that Ride didn’t like the attention she received being the first in space.  In fact, she hid from the spotlight as much as possible until she was instructed to make herself available for interviews.  She was thrust into the spotlight when all she wanted to do was head to the quiet of space.

As a youngster growing up during the period when these women were flying, I remember learning about Sally Ride.  But I also remember the horrific Challenger explosion which took the life of school teacher Christa McAuliffe.  

But I didn’t remember that one of the team lost that same day was Judy Resnik, one of the original six women chosen.  In fact, this book highlighted how little I really knew about the struggles women in general faced to get ahead during my youth.

Reading The Six rekindled memories of when the shuttle program was new and highly publicized on the news.  Today, we have missions going to space more frequently.  We even use commercial carriers rather than NASA built ships now.  Flying in the shuttle is common place for women today.

Grab a copy of this book from the library or your local bookstore.  And before you start reading it, take a moment to gaze up into the sky and imagine what it must have been like for that first generation of women flying into space.