The role of women in and affiliated with NASA has varied over time. As early as 1922 women were working as physicists and in other technical positions.[1] Throughout the 1930s to the present, more women joined the NASA teams not only at Langley Memorial, but at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Glenn Research Center, and other numerous NASA sites throughout the United States.[2] As the space program has grown, women have advanced into many roles, including astronauts.
History
1920s
As early as 1922 women like Pearl I. Young were working as physicists and other technical positions. Young was the second female physicist working for the federal government at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory building 1202 in Langley, Virginia.
1960s
Women first worked in support as administrators, secretaries, doctors, psychologists, and later engineers. In the 1960s, NASA started recruiting women and minorities for the space program. By the end of the 1960s, NASA had employed thousands of women. Some of the women like Mary Shep Burton, Gloria B. Martinez (the first Spanish woman hired), Cathy Osgood, and Shirley Hunt worked in the computer division while Sue Erwin, Lois Ransdell, and Maureen Bowen worked as secretaries for various members of the Mission and Flight Control teams. Dana Ulery was the first woman engineer to be hired at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA. Although she was only considered as a junior engineer, for more than seven years, no woman engineer got into JPL besides Ulery. Another woman, Donna Shirley, worked in JPL as a mission engineer in the 1960s. Also, Dr. Carolyn Huntoon, a woman, was a pioneer in researching astronaut metabolisms and other body systems. Margaret Hamilton was the guidance computer lead programmer for the Apollo program. Judy Sullivan was the lead biomedical engineer for the Apollo 11 mission.
Although woman had a difficult time establishing themselves within the organization, NASA did have some women who charted unknown territory throughout the time period. For example, Katherine Johnson was one of the most prolific figures in NASA history. Johnson worked through the ranks as a black woman and made it as one of the top and most respected engineers on the Apollo mission. This was seen as a major step for blacks and women throughout NASA and the general public for others to look up to. Along with Katherine Johnson, who ended up playing a pivotal role as a computer for NASA, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson helped calculate integral equations and mathematical calculations to recheck and assure that the launching of spacecraft was calculated correctly. Overall, these figures stood as pioneers to the growing commonality of women working for NASA.
However, not everyone was accepting of this phenomenon. In 1962, George Low, NASA's Chief of Manned Spaceflight, fought against women by telling the congress that working with women would delay his work. Meanwhile, in the same year, John Kennedy signed the President's Commission on the Status of Women to encourage gender equality in the workforce. This eventually led to James Webb, a NASA administrator, creating an agency-wide policy directive stating that NASA provides equal opportunities for all kinds of people willing to work with NASA. Despite this, no women were selected to join the astronaut corps in 1963/65/66/67.
1970s
The 1970s was a stepping stone that lead women a step closer to becoming astronauts. At the same time, the military began accepting women for pilot training that eventually led to women astronauts. In 1977, the recruitment of NASA skyrocketed because of Nichelle Nichols's help. Part of the advantage Nichols had in the recruitment was that her role as Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek inspired young girls to become astronauts at NASA when they grow up. One of these girls was Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black woman astronaut in 1992. Another important character in the 1970s was Dr. Carolyn Huntoon who turned down being an astronaut to serve on the astronaut selection committee. NASA sent Huntoon around the United States to encourage women to apply as astronauts or to get into the STEM field. In 1979, Kathryn Sullivan flew a NASA WB-57F reconnaissance aircraft to 63,300 feet altitude breaking an unofficial altitude record for American women.