In 1959, Thirty two male candidate pilots under contract with NASA underwent a seven-day series of rigorous physiological and psychological tests at the Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research (now Lovelace Biomedical). Seven of the candidates were selected to be the Project Mercury astronauts. Dr. Randy Lovelace II, founder of the facility, believed that women could pass the tests with about the same success rate as men. Lovelace conducted the same tests with a group of women who became known as the “Mercury 13,” including Jerry Cobb, pictured here. The women passed the tests, but NASA abruptly cancelled that program. It wasn’t until twenty years later that the first U.S. woman flew into space. Photograph courtesy of Lovelace Biomedical.