NASA and the Mercury 13

Last week, I wrote about the Mercury 13--a group of women who aced the physical exams required to join the astronaut corps but who, it seems, never had a serious shot at spaceflight, thanks to 1960s mores that kept women out of the daredevils ranks of the test pilots who became NASA's first astronaut class.

James Oberg argues that the media miscast this story as a "secret NASA training program" when, in fact, it was a private side project run by a NASA doctor. Read his commentary here.

The Mercury 13 have their own web site with bios of "the ladies" and additional background reading.

And check out NASA's diplomatic take on the subject here.