The Mercury 13: Women with the 'right stuff'

Image copyrightSUE NELSON

Image captionWally Funk was one of Nasa's early class of women astronaut candidates

In the early 60s, 13 women undertook secret tests at Nasa to see if they could become astronauts. Were it not for rules which prevented them from flying missions, the first woman in space could have been an American.

When Nasa astronaut Kate Rubins recently became the 60th woman to go into space, Wally Funk was watching.

There are two televisions in her Texas living room. One is tuned permanently to Nasa TV.

Space is one of her passions. The other is flying. Funk was America's first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector and it was her skills as a pilot that, in 1961, led her to become one of 13 women who passed secret medical tests to become an astronaut.

The Mercury 13, as they are now known, undertook the same tough mental and physical tests as the famous silver-suited Mercury 7.

Those latter all-American heroes included John Glenn and played an important part in the space race against the Soviet Union, eventually placing a man on the Moon.

The Mercury 7 tests, memorably detailed in Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff (later a film), pushed the men to their physical limits. The doctor who devised them, William Randolph Lovelace, was also head of Nasa's Special Committee on Bioastronautics.

Image copyrightNASA

Image captionPilot Jerrie Cobb passed the training tests devised by William Randolph Lovelace

Image copyrightNASA

Image captionThe Mercury 13 never flew on missions, unlike their male counterparts (pictured here)

Lovelace had successfully tested one female pilot, Jerrie Cobb, in 1960 and now wanted to see if it was a one off or if other women could pass. Aviatrix Jackie Cochran helped fund it and the chosen women were all accomplished pilots, some with more flying hours than Glenn, and they were prepared to attend at a moment's notice.

Funk's mother was denied an aviation career - after her father and husband said her duty was to be a good wife and mother - so she was not going to let her own opportunity pass.

"Lovelace said be there on Monday and I left right away with $10 in my pocket," she says.

Funk, the youngest, excelled. In one particular test she was off the scale and beat everyone - male and female - after remaining in an isolation tank without any ill effects for an incredible 10 hours and 35 minutes

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionNasa astronaut Kate Rubins became the 60th woman to go into space on 7 July

To be honest it's hard to imagine Funk being silent for that long. A vivacious, loquacious, determined powerhouse, she is rarely still, loves to chat - loudly - and has energy levels that defy her 70 plus years (though she will only ever admit to being 45).

Despite a built up shoe on one foot as a result of a botched hip operation, she walks as fast as she talks. During our mini-road trip for the BBC World Service documentary, Women with the Right Stuff, I struggled to keep up.

She's a joyously colourful character, wearing blue flight suits and Nasa mission patches. Funk, who I suspect is not used to being in the passenger seat of any vehicle, also has the disturbing habit of refusing to wear a seat belt and jumping out of our rental car before it came to a halt.

With me not wanting to see her flying through the windscreen, and in an effort to stop the seatbelt warning sounds, she complied reluctantly.

The next day, after her usual exit from a moving car in a parking lot, I discovered why the beeping had stopped. On her empty seat lay a fastened seat belt. She was simply sitting on top of it.