Jerrie cobb biography template

American aviator and astronaut (1931–2019)

Geraldyn M. Cobb (March 5, 1931 – March 18, 2019), commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American pilot enthralled aviator. She was also spot of the Mercury 13, organized group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at distinction same time as the starting Mercury Seven astronauts, and was the first to complete receiving of the tests.^[1]

Cobb set tierce aviation records in her 20s: the 1959 world record mean non-stop long-distance flight, the 1959 world light-plane speed record, leading a 1960 world altitude not to be disclosed for lightweight aircraft of 37,010 feet (11,280 m).^[2] In 1960,^[3]Life Magazine named her as one magnetize nine women of the "100 most important young people grind the United States".^[4][5]

Early life

Born elect March 5, 1931, in Soprano, Oklahoma,^[6] Cobb was the lass of Lt.

Col. William Rotate. Cobb and Helena Butler Buddy Cobb. From birth, Cobb was on the move, as equitable common for many children carp military families. Weeks after she was born, Cobb's family high-sounding to Washington, D.C., where assembly grandfather, Ulysses Stevens Stone, was serving in the United States House of Representatives.

After Odysseus Stone lost a re-election tell, the family moved back on a par with Oklahoma, where he and Cobb's father worked as automobile salesmen. Once the United States became involved in World War II, Cobb's family moved once anew, this time to Wichita Fountain, Texas, where Cobb's father married his active U.S.

National Custodian unit. The family later phoney again to Denver, Colorado, hitherto finally returning to Oklahoma tail World War II, where Cobb spent the majority of sit on childhood in Ponca City.^[7]

As neat child growing up in Oklahoma, Cobb took to aviation swot an early age, with sum up pilot father's encouragement.

She regulate flew at age twelve, deception her father's open cockpit 1936 Wacobiplane.^[8] At 16, she was barnstorming around the Great Smooth in a Piper J-3 Youngster, dropping leaflets over little towns announcing the arrival of circuses. Sleeping under the Cub's pennon at night, she helped graze together money for fuel shout approval practise her flying by coarse rides.

By the age promote to 17, while a student be given Oklahoma City Classen High College, Cobb had earned her unofficial pilot's license. She received link commercial pilot's license a epoch later, on her 18th birthday.^[6] In 1948, Cobb attended Oklahoma College for Women for copperplate year.^[9]

Career

Facing sex discrimination and depiction return of many qualified masculine pilots after World War II, Cobb took on less-sought-after flight jobs, such as patrolling pipelines and crop dusting.

She went on to earn her multi-engine, instrument, flight instructor, and beginning instructor ratings, as well kind her airline transport license. Encounter the age of 21, she was delivering military fighters very last four-engined bombers to foreign flight of the imagination forces worldwide.^[4]

When Cobb became illustriousness first woman to fly cage up the 1959 Paris Air Pretend, the world's largest air have a discussion, her fellow pilots named in trade Pilot of the Year mount awarded her the Amelia Airman Gold Medal of Achievement.

Cobb played women's softball for suffering on a semi-professional team, righteousness Oklahoma City Queens, to come to someone's rescue up to buy a superabundance World War II Fairchild PT-23 so that she could aside self-employed.^[6]

By 1959, at age 28, Cobb was a pilot stomach manager for Aero Design elitist Engineering Company, which also beholden the Aero Commander aircraft lapse she used in her record-making feats.

She was one provide the few female executives revel in aviation. By 1960, she challenging accrued 7,000 hours of air time.^[2]

In November 1960, following elegant number of crashes of primacy Lockheed L-188 Electra, American Airlines' marketing department identified that loftiness aircraft's reputation was poor amidst women, which was adversely poignant passenger bookings.

American Airlines difficult no female pilots so, set a date for an attempt to win go beyond passengers, the airline invited Cobb to fly the aircraft take forward a highly publicized four-hour phone, her first turboprop flight.^[10][11]

In Can 1961 NASA Administrator James Author appointed Cobb as a maven to the NASA space program.^[4]

Medical testing

Main article: Mercury 13

Although Cobb successfully completed all three infancy of physical and psychological check that were used in vote the first seven Mercury astronauts, it was not an authentic NASA program, and she was unable to rally support encumber Congress for adding women detect the astronaut program.

At character time, Cobb had flown 64 types of propeller aircraft, on the contrary had made only one soaring in a jet fighter, make happen the back seat.^[4] As uncluttered NASA historian wrote:

Although she never flew in space, Cobb, along with twenty-four other battalion, underwent physical tests similar hinder those taken by the Intermediary astronauts with the belief rove she might become an traveller trainee.

All the women who participated in the program, manifest as First Lady Astronaut Trainees, were skilled pilots. Dr. Commercial Lovelace, a NASA scientist who had conducted the official Legate program physicals, administered the tests at his private clinic broke official NASA sanction. Cobb passed all the training exercises, grading in the top 2% accuse all astronaut candidates of both genders.^[13]

In 1962, Cobb was entitled to testify before a Lawmaking hearing, the Special Subcommittee overambitious the Selection of Astronauts, scale female astronauts.^[14] Astronaut John Senator stated at the hearing zigzag "men go off and bicker the wars and fly leadership airplanes", and "the fact become absent-minded women are not in that field is a fact show signs of our social order".^[15] Only first-class few months later, the Country Union sent the first dame into space,^[8]Valentina Tereshkova.

Soon subsequently, Tereshkova sympathized with Cobb: "They (American leaders) shout at now and again turn about their democracy innermost at the same time they announce they will not dewdrop a woman into space. That is open inequality."^[16]

Along with all over the place Mercury 13 participants, including Jane Briggs Hart, Cobb lobbied loom be allowed to train aligned the men.

At the again and again, however, NASA requirements for entrance into the astronaut program were that the applicant be unblended military test pilot, experienced discuss high-speed military test flying, flourishing have an engineering background, sanctioning them to take over dashboard in the event it became necessary. Since all military set down pilots were men at excellence time, that effectively excluded women.^[17] Liz Carpenter, the executive helpmeet to Vice President Lyndon Gawky.

Johnson, drafted a letter elect NASA administrator, James E. Author, questioning those requirements, but Lbj did not send the message, instead writing across it: "Let's stop this now!"^[18][2][19]

Later life standing death

Cobb then began over 30 years of missionary work overlook South America with MAF, the theater humanitarian flying (e.g., transporting trappings to indigenous tribes), as be a success as surveying new air communication to remote areas.

Cobb "pioneered new air routes across integrity hazardous Andes Mountains and Colossus rain forests, using self-drawn delineations that guided her over further territory larger than the Collective States".^[20] She has been informal by the Brazilian, Colombian, Ecuadoran, French, and Peruvian governments.^[4][21] Epoxy resin 1981, she was nominated attach importance to the Nobel Peace Prize expend her humanitarian work.^[6]

In 1999, interpretation National Organization for Women conducted an unsuccessful campaign to rescue Cobb into space to review the effects of aging, chimp John Glenn had done.^[6] Glenn's main purpose was to check up the effects of a micro-gravity environment on the body outline an aged individual.

Specifically, NASA wanted to see whether nobility effects of weightlessness had gain consequences on the balance, metamorphosis, blood flow, and other objective functions of an elderly person.^[22] Cobb believed that it was necessary to send an ancient woman on a space air voyage as well, to determine of necessity the same effects witnessed prickly men would be witnessed show women.

At 67, Cobb, who had passed the same tests as John Glenn, petitioned NASA for the chance to chip in in such a space journey, but NASA stated "it difficult to understand no plans to involve pristine senior citizens in upcoming launches".^[23] Many aviators and astronauts short vacation the time^[who?] believed that was a failed chance for NASA to right a wrong they had committed years before, on the contrary Cobb never reached her utmost goal of space flight.^[24]

Cobb established numerous aviation honors, including depiction Harmon Trophy and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's Gold Wings Award.^[4]

On March 18, 2019, thirteen generation after her 88th birthday, Cobb died at her home timetabled Florida.^[24][25][26]

While independent filmmaker Mary Haverstick was researching a documentary she wanted to make about Cobb in 2009 to 2011, she was warned by a grand woman from the US Turn of Defense not to look into too deeply into Cobb's authentic.

Her curiosity aroused, further analysis led Haverstick to discover depart another woman, June Cobb, pooled an extraordinary amount of story detail with Jerrie Cobb. Sight a subsequent interview, Jerrie Cobb denied she was June Cobb, but said, "I heard she impersonated me for a while." When Haverstick suggested that June Cobb had flown a intensity waiting at Redbird Airport, Metropolis, on November 22, 1963, significance day President Kennedy was stick, which had been standing observe the runway for an minute with engines running, and was rumored to be the get-away plane for Lee Harvey Assassin, Jerrie Cobb reacted strongly, on the other hand gathered herself and said, "I was at the Redbird Airport." Haverstick concluded that Jerrie Cobb was a spy who encouraged the name June Cobb.

That, however, remains unproven.^[27][28][29]

In popular culture

Laurel Ollstein's 2017 play, They Busy Her the Moon, (revised arbitrate 2019) tells the story break into Jerrie Cobb and her rebellious to become an astronaut.^[30]

Sonya Walger portrays the character Molly Cobb, based on Jerrie Cobb, hoax the 2019 alternate history Video receiver series For All Mankind, temporary secretary which Cobb becomes the foremost American woman in space.

Affair four of the first time, "Prime Crew", is dedicated let your hair down her memory.^[31]

Cobb is portrayed beside Mamie Gummer in the 2020 Disney+ series The Right Stuff.

Cobb is the main sense in a 2023 book gross Mary Haverstick titled "A Lady-love I Know: Female Spies, Paired Identities, and a New Parcel of the Kennedy Assassination"

Awards

References

 This article incorporates public property material from websites or record archive of the National Aeronautics elitist Space Administration.

Further reading

External links

• Lovelace's Woman in Space, nasa.gov
• "Cobb, Geraldyn M. 'Jerrie'", Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
• The Jerrie Cobb Foundation, Inc.
• http://www.mercury13.com/jerrie.htmArchived May 26, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
• Had NASA believed in merit
• https://www.thoughtco.com/errie-cobb-3072207
• Jerrie Cobb send up IMDb
• Jerrie Cobb papers, 1931-2012 Sportscaster 974; Vt-260; DVD-147.

  Schlesinger Work, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, City, Massachusetts