Since my last post was so very shallow, I felt the need to post something a little more highbrow. So here it is; I've chosen to write about one of my biggest heroes.
No, not Wonder Woman (who was my first hero, just as she was for many gay men), I'm talking about Geraldine 'Jerrie' Cobb. Haven't heard of her? Well shame on you!
Jerrie Cobb should have been the first woman in space.
Perhaps I should explain.
Jerrie was born in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1931. She learned to fly her daddie's 'plane at the age of 12. At 17 she had her private pilots license and was paying her way through school by dusting crops and teaching navigation. At 18 she recieved her commercial license, setting world altitude and speed records. She was a very talented pilot and her achievements brought her to the attention of NASA. She was recruited to become an astronaut trainee in 1959, the first woman to be selected for that role.
She helped NASA to select other candidates and they became known collectively as the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (or FLATs). Thirteen women completed the first round of training before NASA decided to pull the plug on their female astronaut training scheme. Jerrie and her team were denied the chance to fly any space missions.
Jerrie didn't let this setback get her down. She went on to set new world records for speed, distance and absolute altitude and has spent over 30 years performing missionary work in South America. In 1981 she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work.
And that is why she is one of my biggest heroes; a woman who has rallied against her setbacks and come back stronger.
(The first woman who actually made it into space was the Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. In 1963 she spent 3 days in space, performing various tests on herself to see how the female body reacted to space flight. It was 19 years before another woman was selected for a space mission.)
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