Female space pioneer and member of the Mercury 13, Jerrie Cobb has died at 88 years old

Jerrie Cobb poses next to a Mercury spaceship capsule. Cobb, along with 24 other women, underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an astronaut trainee. All the women who participated in the program, known as First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLAT), were skilled pilots. But the program was not sanctioned by NASA and was shuttered. less Jerrie Cobb poses next to a Mercury spaceship capsule. Cobb, along with 24 other women, underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an ... more Photo: Credit: NASA Photo: Credit: NASA Image 1 of / 87 Caption Close Female space pioneer and member of the Mercury 13, Jerrie Cobb has died at 88 years old 1 / 87 Back to Gallery

Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb, the first woman to pass NASA's astronaut training, has died. She was 88.

Cobb, a pioneering female pilot, was a member of the Mercury 13, a group of women who were able to complete in the early 1960s the same, physically demanding astronaut training as male candidates.

NASA squashed the program before any of these women could fly in space, but Cobb remained a steadfast advocate for women pilots throughout her lifetime — even taking on revered Mercury 7 astronaut John Glenn in Congress to fight for a woman's right to be an astronaut.

When that didn't work, she changed course, spending much of her life as a missionary pilot in the Amazon jungle, delivering medicine, food and clothing to extremely isolated regions. This work earned her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 1981.

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"Gone, but never forgotten," The Oklahoma Hall of Fame at Gaylord-Pickens Museum tweeted Thursday morning. "A true pioneer, STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] advocate & role model. You will be missed, Jerrie!"

She died on March 18 in Florida, according to a statement from her family. The Associated Press reported that she died after a brief illness.

"After living sixty-six adventure filled years as a pilot and advocate for female pilots, and sharing over fifty years of her life with the indigenous Indian tribes of the Amazon, Jerrie's humble smile and sky-blue eyes live on in our hearts," the statement read. "It is fitting that Jerrie was born in, and would leave us in, Woman's History Month."

News of her death comes just one day after NASA announced Wednesday that astronaut Christina Koch will make the longest female spaceflight in history, at 328 days.

More Information About the Mercury 13 Thirteen women — known as the Mercury 13 — were recruited in the late 1950s and early 1960s to be astronauts, but NASA shut the program down. It would be another two decades before women would go into space. Myrtle Cagle: Born in North Carolina in 1925, Cagle learned to fly at age 12 and had earned her private pilot's license by 19. She tried out to be a Women Airforce Service Pilot during World War II. After returning home, she became a flight instructor and, after the Mercury 13 plans were scrapped, she continued to fly in air shows and was the second woman to earn an airframe and powerplant mechanic's rating from Georgia Technical Institute.

Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb: Born in Oklahoma in 1931, Cobb was just 16 when she earned her private pilot's license. Before becoming part of the Mercury 13, she spent three years delivering aircraft, such as B-17 bombers, across the world. After being denied her chance in fly in space, she became a missionary pilot in the Amazon jungle, delivering medicine, food and clothing to the most isolated of regions. Because of this work, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1981. Cobb died in March at the age of 88.

Jan and Marion Dietrich: Born in 1926 in California, twin sisters Jan and Marion Dietrich were the only girls in their high school's aviation class. They earned their private pilot's licenses early and placed second in the All-Women's Transcontinental Air Race in 1951. Marion worked as a newspaper reporter for the Oakland Tribune and flew charter and ferry flights before she and Jan were selected as part of the Mercury 13. Marion died in 1974 from cancer. Jan died in 2008.

Wally Funk: Born in New Mexico in 1939, Funk has been flying professionally since 1957. Her first job at age 20 was in Oklahoma as a civilian flight instructor for U.S. Army officers. In 1970, she received the commercial glider rating and taught aeronautical science at Redondo High School in California. She also went on a goodwill flying tour for three years that covered Europe and the Middle East. In 1974, she became the first female air-safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C.

Janey Hart: Born in Michigan in 1921, Hart was an accomplished equestrian and an avid sailor. She earned her pilot's license at age 18 and was the first woman in Michigan licensed to fly a helicopter in the 1950s. Before joining the Mercury 13, Hart served with the Red Cross Motor Corps during World War II, driving trucks from Detroit to military bases. She was married to a senator and was an outspoken activist for women's rights. Hart, a founder of the National Organization for Women, died in 2015 at the age of 93.

Jean Hixson: Born in Illinois in 1922, Hixson earned her pilot's license at age 18. She trained with Women's Airforce Service Pilots during World War II and flew B-25 twin-engine bombers as an Air Force pilot. In 1957, she became the second woman to break the sound barrier. After Mercury 13 failed to get accepted by NASA, Hixson moved to Akron, Ohio, where she worked as a teacher and flight instructor. She died in 1984.

Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen: Born in Illinois in 1937, Jessen fell in love with flight at a young age. She learned how to fly while attending the University of Oklahoma and was a flight instructor and a commercial pilot when she was selected for the Mercury 13 program. After those plans fell apart, she became a sales-demonstration pilot for the Beechcraft factory in Kansas. She has remained active in aviation as a member of the Boise Airport Commission and president of the Ninety-Nines, a women's flying group.

Irene Leverton: Born in 1927 in Illinois, Leverton joined the Civil Air Patrol in 1944, flying the Piper J-3 Cub. She also served as an agriculture pilot spraying crops in Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. After the Mercury 13 was shuttered, she became an FAA Designated Accident Prevention Counselor, flew in races and flew search-and-rescue flights, as well as flights for the Arizona Border Patrol. She retired from flying in 2010 and died in 2017 at age 90.

Sarah Ratley: Born in 1933 in Kansas, Ratley earned her pilot's license at age 17. She became a member of the Ninety-Nines, a women's pilot association started by Amelia Earhart. She was a Whirly Girl helicopter pilot and was working as an electrical engineer at AT&T when she became a member of the Mercury 13. As of 2015, she was working as an accountant but continued to fly.

Bernice Steadman: Born in Michigan in 1925, Steadman earned her pilot's license at age 17 before she got her driver's license. Before becoming part of the Mercury 13, she started Trimble Aviation, where she operated her own flight school and charter service at the Bishop Airport in Flint, Mich., and in 1955, she won the All Women's Transcontinental Air Race and the All Women's International Air Race to Cuba. Later in her life, Steadman co-founded the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Ohio. She died in 2017 at the age of 89.

Jerri Truhill: Born in Pampa, Texas, in 1928, Truhill fell in love with flying at the age of 4 and started taking lessons at 15 without her parents' knowledge. Before becoming part of the Mercury 13, she flew twin-engine North American B-25s for Texas Instruments alongside her future husband, Joe Truhill. Later, she flew a P-51 Mustang in a pink lycra flying suit for Monsanto. She died in 2013 at the age of 85.

Rhea Woltman: Born in Minnesota in 1928, Woltman didn't learn to fly until after several years of teaching in a one-room schoolhouse. She started as a private pilot, then became a commercial pilot and finally became a flying instructor. She was a charter pilot in Houston when she was tapped as one of the Mercury 13. In the early 1970s, she moved to Colorado to do glider training and towing for Air Force Academy cadets. She is a registered parliamentarian, which means she provides oversight of regulations at formal meetings. Sources: National Aviation Hall of Fame, Detroit Free Press, New York Times, Dallas Observer, World Space Flight, Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Gizmodo, International Women's Air and Space Museum, University of Akron

The Mercury 13

Cobb, an Oklahoma native, was 12 years old when she learned to fly, earning her pilot's license at 16.

By 28, she had logged 7,000 hours in the cockpit — more than Glenn. And that's when she was approached in September 1959 by pioneering research scientist Randy Lovelace about taking the space stress test.

Lovelace helped NASA choose the first class of astronauts and thought that women would be good candidates: They were lighter, shorter, more resistant to radiation and could handle pain, heat, cold and loneliness better than men.

But the testing had to be done in secret. Women were not allowed to be military test pilots — a requirement of astronaut candidates at the time.

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After Cobb was tapped by Lovelace, a dozen more women were chosen, but NASA shut the program down when they learned of it. Cobb and her female colleagues took their fight to Congress in 1962.

"As pilots, we fly and share mutual respect with male pilots in the primarily man's world of aviation," Cobb told Congressional members at the time. "We see, only, a place in our Nation's space future without discrimination. ... There are sound medical and scientific reasons for using women in space."

But Glenn stood in their way, telling Congress that "the fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order."

Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova rocketed into space the following year. It would be another two decades before American women finally got their chance, when Sally Ride strapped into the Space Shuttle Challenger in June 1983. Ride died in 2012.

'Opening the door for us'

Cobb went on to fly humanitarian aid missions in the Amazon jungle, a calling she followed for decades.

"In what would perhaps become her greatest contribution to humanity, she flew dangerous humanitarian aid missions serving the indigenous people of the Amazon, discovering tribes of Indians never before known to man and helping them sustain life," her family wrote. "Even in the Amazon she faced gender discrimination in trying to fly for humanitarian aid groups."

For this work, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1981 and honored by the governments of Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. She even received the Bishop Wright Air Industry Award for "Humanitarian Contributions to Modern Aviation."

But she stayed in tune with the fate of female astronauts at the space agency she dreamed of joining.

When NASA decided to allow John Glenn in 1998 to fly at age 77, Cobb and others across the nation fought for her to have a chance as well. She was never allowed that chance.

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"So sad to hear of the passing of #JerrieCobb," said Ellen Stofan, the John and Adrienne Mars director at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "She should have gone to space, but turned her life into one of service with grace."

Anna Fisher, one of the first six women tapped by NASA in 1978 to join the astronaut corps, told the Houston Chronicle in June that she feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the Mercury 13 — and an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"They worked so hard, and they wanted it so badly, and then we came along and caught the wave at just the right time when society was changing," said Fisher, who flew on the space shuttle just once, in 1984. "I felt so grateful to them and sad, in a way, that they weren't able to achieve their dream. But they did, in a way, by opening the door for us."

Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and science for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.

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