Bernice Steadman

Bernice Steadman, part of NASA’s ‘Mercury 13’ dies, AP
“A woman who was among 13 selected for training as possible astronauts in the early 1960s has died at her northern Michigan home. She was 89. Bernice Steadman was a member of the so-called “Mercury 13.” NASA dropped the program, and it was 22 more years before a U.S. woman went to space.”

Keith Cowing

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

5 responses to “Bernice Steadman”

1. Todd Austin says:

   March 22, 2015 at 12:54 am

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   Thanks so much for sharing this, Keith. It’s important that we remember these extraordinary women, as well as the foolish decisions that blocked them from becoming astronauts.

   Here’s a more complete article from the Detroit Free press:

   http://www.freep.com/story/…

   • John Adley says:

     March 22, 2015 at 2:23 am

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     Unbelievable! Thanks for sharing!

2. Daniel Woodard says:

   March 22, 2015 at 4:22 pm

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   All of the Mercury 13 were remarkably accomplished for a time when many aviation careers were closed to women to a degree that would be inexplicable today.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

3. Antilope7724 says:

   March 23, 2015 at 4:58 am

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   Here is a link to a digitized Life magazine at Google books, with an article about the Mercury 13 from June 1963. Make sure to look at the article in the pages just before this one, also. It’s about the Vostok 6, Valentina Tereshkova mission.
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   LIFE magazine Jun 28, 1963 – Article about the Mercury 13.
   https://books.google.com/bo…

   • Todd Austin says:

     March 23, 2015 at 1:47 pm

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     Thanks for sharing this. Good on Life for laying out the foolish sexist discrimination of the Johnson administration, and in 1963 at that. It’s a great shame on our country that one or more of these women did not fly.