Showing results by narrator "Sue Nelson" in All Categories

Joining us in the Audible Studios to talk about her book Wally Funk’s Race for Space is science writer and broadcaster Sue Nelson. Wally Funk was one of the 13 members of the 1961 Women in Space Programme. The female aviation pioneer also became the first female air safety investigator for the NTSB and the first civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, with over 19,000 flight hours. Sue Nelson, former BBC science correspondent and Radio 4 presenter, documents Wally’s extraordinary life in her new book, Wally Funk’s Race for Space, published in 2018.

In 1961, Wally Funk was among the Mercury 13, the first group of American pilots to pass the ‘Women in Space’ programme. Wally sailed through a series of rigorous physical and mental tests, her scores beating many of the male candidates, including those of John Glenn, the first American in orbit. But just one week before she was due to enter the final phase of training, the programme was abruptly cancelled. A combination of politics and prejudice meant that none of the women ever flew into space.