Comments on: Oklahoma City 99s Museum of Women Pilots pays tribute to Amelia Earhart, other female fliers http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2009/10/28/oklahoma-city-99s-museum-of-women-pilots-pays-tribute-to-amelia-earhart-other-female-fliers/ Entertainment blogging from The Oklahoman's Brandy McDonnell Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:47:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Maren Gram http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2009/10/28/oklahoma-city-99s-museum-of-women-pilots-pays-tribute-to-amelia-earhart-other-female-fliers/comment-page-1/#comment-63266 Maren Gram Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:48:40 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/?p=13872#comment-63266 Do you have a list of members from the 30s and early 40s? I am looking for Zara Gram. Many thanks. Do you have a list of members from the 30s and early 40s? I am looking for Zara Gram. Many thanks.

]]> By: JimO http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2009/10/28/oklahoma-city-99s-museum-of-women-pilots-pays-tribute-to-amelia-earhart-other-female-fliers/comment-page-1/#comment-21007 JimO Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:27:56 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/?p=13872#comment-21007 "Spears and pottery share space with a helmet and goggles from Norman native Jerrie Cobb, who was one of the Mercury 13, women pilots who underwent the same testing as the Mercury Seven astronauts but were denied the chance to train for the space program." This whine is out of place with the catalog of genuine achievers and pioneers who made real human history. The women who were privately tested by a space doctor were never part of the NASA program because, for separate reasons that did have unintended gender implications, astronauts were only selected from experienced test pilots (who had also undergone casualty attrition levels the women never encountered). Cobb and others wanted those standards set aside for a symbolic propaganda mission, but the Russians would have beaten them anyway with their stunt with Tereshkova. Today, women have a full role in the Western human spaceflight programs -- US, Canada, France, Japan, and other nations -- while they have always been marginalized (and usually totally absent) in the Russian program. Stunt or substance, which choice ultimately was best for women and for all of us? It's sad to see the nostalgia for dead-ended stuntsmanship still lingering. “Spears and pottery share space with a helmet and goggles from Norman native Jerrie Cobb, who was one of the Mercury 13, women pilots who underwent the same testing as the Mercury Seven astronauts but were denied the chance to train for the space program.”

This whine is out of place with the catalog of genuine achievers and pioneers who made real human history. The women who were privately tested by a space doctor were never part of the NASA program because, for separate reasons that did have unintended gender implications, astronauts were only selected from experienced test pilots (who had also undergone casualty attrition levels the women never encountered). Cobb and others wanted those standards set aside for a symbolic propaganda mission, but the Russians would have beaten them anyway with their stunt with Tereshkova. Today, women have a full role in the Western human spaceflight programs — US, Canada, France, Japan, and other nations — while they have always been marginalized (and usually totally absent) in the Russian program.

Stunt or substance, which choice ultimately was best for women and for all of us? It’s sad to see the nostalgia for dead-ended stuntsmanship still lingering.

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