Woman's SECOND Chance To Go To Outer Space

kimberlyanne546

kimberlyanne546

Final Approach
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Kimberly
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/03/20/wally-funk/

Got this in an email from the 99s.


Apparently, this woman was selected and trained for the Mercury space program, but then women were not allowed:

"Funk said there was an intent to send women up to space, but President Eisenhower eventually mandated that only military male test pilots could be picked as astronauts for the Mercury space program."
 
Wow, this is interesting (old space testing):

The initial Mercury Astronaut Candidate examinations taken by both men and women consisted of three phases:
PHASE ONE involved a series of 87 different tests covering everything from having to swallow three feet of rubber hose for a stomach test to having 18 needles stuck into your head to record brain waves, to drinking a pint of radioactive water.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Wow, this is interesting (old space testing):

The initial Mercury Astronaut Candidate examinations taken by both men and women consisted of three phases:
PHASE ONE involved a series of 87 different tests covering everything from having to swallow three feet of rubber hose for a stomach test to having 18 needles stuck into your head to record brain waves, to drinking a pint of radioactive water.
Click to expand...

Cave Johnson had many aspirations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Johnson_(Portal)
 
WF has always had a need to be in the Press more than any of our other highly accomplished female pilots in Colorado. (Well, the "new" Amelia is running a close second, but a lot of her press coverage comes naturally from her job as a reporter and bored Producers, I imagine. And the name, of course...)

I don't know why WF has to have her name everywhere. Same story over and over. Astronaut. We know. (It's in some local or National publication every year. Yet we never see the names of the others chosen mentioned in those write-ups... hmm. Who writes this stuff?)

Personally, I'd rather hang with Emily Warner. No offense to WF. Or even our own Mari.

EW is very understated and a pleasure to talk to. (So is Mari by the way.)

WF always seems to have something to prove in public gatherings. It's subtle and weird.

They're all three more interesting and courageous than I will ever be.

WF just makes me slightly uncomfortable.

Not saying we don't have male pilots around here of the same persuasion. Ha. Some far worse than WF. Way way worse.

Murphy knows WF better than I do. Has flown with WF also, I believe. Maybe has some more insights. Some people are different in crowds vs. in the cockpit. Dunno.

Mostly it's just a personal preference thing for me. I've read about WF every year since I became a pilot. There's some weird need to stay in the Press going on there.

That and another story I'm not authorized to tell here ... which involves unwanted really dumb low altitude maneuvers many many many many moons ago. I'm not going there. Murphy knows why. ;)
 
I think you mean 'Woman's THIRD Chance To Go To Outer Space'.

Woman's First Chance wasn't just to outer space, it was actually a lunar shot. Ralph Kramden often offered to send his wife, "To the moon Alice, to the moon!!"
 
Captain said:
I think you mean 'Woman's THIRD Chance To Go To Outer Space'.

Woman's First Chance wasn't just to outer space, it was actually a lunar shot. Ralph Kramden often offered to send his wife, "To the moon Alice, to the moon!!"
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking... :D
 
I hope she gets to make that flight- worth waiting for.
Must have been frustrating to see that program shelved, when it was obvious that women could possess the "right stuff". The Soviets knew it...

This lady spent almost 3 days in orbit in 1963... also ended the flight by bailing from the capsule (the standard procedure with that series of spacecraft).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova
 
A female blond, a redhead, and brunette astronauts were all 3 sitting at a bar one night. The brunette said, "the brunettes were the first girls to fly in space." And the redhead said, "oh yeah.. well the red heads are going to be the first girls to land on the moon." And the blond said, "Ohh yeaahhh....well the BLONDS are going to be the first girls to land on the Sun." The other two said, "you can't land on the Sun... it's HOT." And the blond said,"well then we're going to go at Night silly!"

Sorry, this post reminded me of one of my favorite blond jokes. I would LOVE to Wally get her chance to go into space.
 
Captain said:
I think you mean 'Woman's THIRD Chance To Go To Outer Space'.

Woman's First Chance wasn't just to outer space, it was actually a lunar shot. Ralph Kramden often offered to send his wife, "To the moon Alice, to the moon!!"
Click to expand...


IIRC, she never actually went. But, he sure got to go bowling a lot. Is that "fair"? :D
 
By the way, I'd think it was great if WF got to go someday too.

My post kinda made it sound like I didn't want that for her. :(

Sometimes you have a dream. Often it becomes an obsession. Nothing wrong with that I guess.
 
Cool! Missed this thread before now. Wally flies from the same field I do! Here's a story that was in the local paper yesterday about her and her Space Ride opportunity:
 

Attachments

  • Wally Funk, Lady Space Pilot (52F).pdf
    1.1 MB · Views: 7
Was just listening to the Rockies game and realized that the Houston Astros need to change their name to the Houston Russian Rentals. ;)
 
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