Loren Grush

I couldn't put this down. It's a nonfiction account of NASA's first 6 female astronauts. Rhea Seddon, Sally Ride, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, Anna Fisher & Judy Resnik went through so much to break the glass ceiling all the way into space. There were moments when their story was infuriating because of what they had to put up with, but I am so grateful for their fearless determination. I wish this was required reading in high schools. These brilliant women were doctors and scientists long before they joined NASA. They led full lives and their intelligence and dedication to the space prorgam paved the way for so many.… (mehr)

Loren Grush’s The Six is an ambitious group biography of the first women admitted to America’s astronaut program: Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon. And if the reader can’t quickly name all six of them, even after finishing the book, that’s part of the problem.

Most casual followers of the program can name only Ride, the first of the group to get a Space Shuttle mission, and possibly Resnik, who perished in the Challenger disaster. Even total space junkies will have difficulty creating firm mental images of their teammates after reading this book, let alone remembering who was who.

Part of the problem, of course, is that trying to bundle all six into a single comprehensive volume is a huge task. The other part is that Grush has laid their backstories out like layers of a cake, sliced them up, and served them out by rote. The reader gets the brief backstory of SallyJudithAnnaKathyShannonRhea growing up in a family located wherever, then the narrative moves on what motivated SallyJudithAnnaKathyShannonRhea’s desire to join NASA, what SallyJudithAnnaKathyShannonRhea’s educational and professional background was, how SallyJudithAnnaKathyShannonRhea heard about NASA’s about-face on the subject of accepting women candidates for the astronaut program, and where SallyJudithAnnaKathyShannonRhea was when she got the news of her acceptance. There’s no throughline, and most readers will still be flipping back and forth to the slim section of photographs, even as they approach the end of the narrative, repeatedly asking themselves “now, which one was she?”

On the plus side, Grush does a good job of showing how the women navigated the training for their future missions, looks at NASA’s spotty record of adapting equipment and procedures to the needs of their new candidates, and how politics (read “budget appropriations”) and PR impacted the Space Shuttle program in general. Missions are explained with a minimum of technobabble, and the ways in which being an astronaut impacted the personal lives of The Six get a medium-depth look. Both Seddon and Fisher (go ahead – look back at the list, I know you need to) had children during their tenure as astronauts, and fielded the inevitable for-women-only questions about how they could perform their jobs and still be mommies. Ride’s bisexuality and her ultimate choice to create a long-term relationship with another woman are mentioned but not dwelt on. The post-Shuttle-era careers of The Six are covered briefly, and the changes to the program brought about by the Challenger (and later, Columbia) disasters are acknowledged.

Overall, The Six is a readable, informative overview, but it’s neither great history nor great literature.… (mehr)

Once NASA decided to allow women into the program, they selected 6 women to be part of their 1978 astronaut candidate class. This book follows their selection and the beginning of their careers.

Although the book had a slow start, it quickly picked up steam once the women were selected and training for missions. I was amazed at both the bravery and determination of these women. It couldn't have been easy to be among the first, where being good, just wasn't enough, you had to be the best. Overall, 4 out of 5 stars.… (mehr)