Clare Boothe Luce—writer, politician and wife to LIFE’s publisher Henry Luce—wrote an op-ed speculating as to why the U.S. lagged behind Russia in this arena. Luce referenced several U.S. space experts’ theories before offering her own. John Glenn, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, posited that “so far we felt the qualifications we were looking for … were best taken care of by men.” Some said Tereshkova was just a Space Race publicity stunt. An unidentified NASA spokesman said the idea of a woman in space made him physically ill.