Author(s): Loren Grush

Popular Science & Nature

The Six was an extraordinary cohort of women recruited by NASA in the seventies. Ride was just one member of the Six. Greeted in Houston by make-up bags designed for use in space, no designated locker rooms and flight suits that didn't fit, they went on to break barriers on earth and in space. In 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space. Anna Fisher was assigned to her first space flight while pregnant. Judy Resnik was killed in the Challenger explosion in 1986. But her legacy - and that of all the Six - lives on. This sparkling history reveals their journey through NASA's outreach programme, rigorous tests and training, sexism, press attention, and the solidarity with which they overcame obstacles and launched into space.