The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts
Loren Grush
In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and Code Girls, the remarkable true story of America’s first women astronauts—six extraordinary women, each making history going to orbit aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle. When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group then made up exclusively of men—had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed unqualified for space flight. more
432 pages, Hardcover
First published Scribner
4.38
Rating
2279
Ratings
420
Reviews
Loren Grush
2 books 47 followers
Loren Grush is a space reporter for Bloomberg, where she covers everything from NASA, human spaceflight, and the booming commercial space industry to distant stars and planets. The daughter of two NASA engineers, she grew up surrounded by space shuttles and rocket scientists—literally. Prior to joining Bloomberg, she was a senior science reporter for The Verge, where she covered space and hosted her own online video series called Space Craft, a show the examined what it takes to send people into the cosmos. Loren has also published stories in Popular Science, The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, Digital Trends, Fox News, and ABC News.Community reviews
"They didn't have any women [astronaut] role models. They were doing it for the first time. For those of us who followed, we [finally] had those role models. So that made us more comfortable, more confident, and more welcome. " -- Colonel Eileen Collins, USAF test pilot / flight instructor (1978-2005) and NASA astronaut (1989-2006), on 'The Six', on page 394I love a good 'non-fiction novel' that is comprised of equals parts education and entertainment (or perhaps it's more that I enjoy my history presented with a certain amount of flair and edge), and on the surface Grush's The Six - detailing the recruiting of women into NASA's astronaut corps to coincide with the introduction of the Space Shuttle, a then-revolutionary reusable spacecraft - would seem to fit the bill. more
Back in the early days of NASA, test pilots were deemed the most qualified to become astronauts. It was a strictly boys club until 1978 when 6 women were selected to join the corps. This book explores the lives and careers of Sally Ride, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Judy Resnik, Shannon Lucid and Rhea Seddon. What an extraordinary group of accomplished women. Under intense media scrutiny they really rose to the occasion. more
If you asked me about women in the space program before I read Loren Grush's, "The Six," all I would be able to tell you was that Sally Ride was the first American woman sent to space and that two women were part of the Challenger disaster. That is to say, Grush nearly had a blank slate on which to school me. Chronicling the NASA careers for the first six women astronauts to be admitted to the program, Grush writes a wonderful tribute to each of their successful careers. I didn't know they were all part of a class of new astronauts which included the first members of color. Grush adeptly tells the story of each of the six as singular people but also as part of a larger group. more
“It's just a fact, the men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes. That women are not in this field is just a fact of our social order. ” -John GlennIn early 1978, NASA announced the names of 35 “astronaut candidates” (ASCANs) selected to train for the new Space Shuttle program. Among the people selected were four men of color and six (white) women. It was an integration that was insufficient but long overdue. more
It was many years after the inception of NASA and the space flight program that women were allowed to become astronauts. Though not all of these initial six women are household names today, they all worked to advance both space exploration and women's rights in their own ways. It rather surprises me that I'm not very interested in space exploration - maybe because I think there's plenty here on Earth to occupy my attention. My mother, on the other hand, is a fanatic whose biggest goal in life is to one day make it to the moon and so I am kept abreast of any advancements in space exploration. However, I am interested in the people who actually made it up into orbit - the whys and hows of it - and so I was excited to read this book about the first six women accepted to NASA as astronauts. more
As a longtime lover of all things space, I really enjoyed this. I definitely knew who Sally Ride was, but the other five women selected alongside her in the first class of astronaut candidates (aka "ascans") (and the first time astronauts had been called astronaut candidates, as part of a you-guessed-it method of moving the goal post for women and BIPOC) were a mystery to me. I had no idea Judy Resnik, the second American woman in space, had died in the Challenger explosion. Or what a hero she was. Or how funny and driven and brilliant she was. more
Fascinating accounting of what the female astronauts had to go through to realize their dream of space travel. Their courage & perseverance was remarkable as was their ability to adapt to unforeseen dangerous problems in space. One minor annoyance for me was the author's fixation on TV late night show host Johnny Carson's snide remarks on the female astronauts because who would pay attention to a guy who has had 4 wives on his views of females. Overall, excellent and a great companion to Thomas Wolfe's tremendous novel, The Right Stuff. more
I will be staying on the ground, but happy for them. . more
4. 5 Stars. I should probably give it 5 stars but it just feels like a 4. 5 star read. I just noticed that I've read 3 books related to the space program and they all are female centered. more
Being an avid reader of astronaut-related books, I was excited to see The Six published a few months ago. I give this book 4 stars for scope and readability, 2 stars for taking a very sloppy approach at writing nonfiction. Grush committed the major nonfiction faux pas of speculating what people were thinking and feeling without hard (or any) evidence to back this up practically every few paragraphs. The most egregious instance was speculating as to what Judy Resnik was likely thinking and feeling the day she tragically passed away on the Challenger. This wasn't addressed in the audiobook, but per other reviewers the physical book includes references to Grush only interviewing two of the six first female NASA astronauts for this book, Shannon Lucid and Rhea Seddon (both of whom have already published memoirs, see below), since two others (Sally Ride and Judy Resnik) have passed away and the remaining two have either published their own memoir recently that precluded giving interviews for an overlapping book (Kathy Sullivan's excellent Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention) or may be planning to (Anna Fisher). more
Fascinating subject, but the execution was mediocre at best. I'm finding that women who write historical accounts about exceptional women seem to stumble. My guess is that it stems from trying to appeal to a male audience. The books are usually professionally written, but a significant portion of the book is spent navel gazing over their home economics. So and so is married and here's how her husband supported her. more
A solidly researched book on the first American women in space, including some new stories you won't find elsewhere. There were six women out of the 1978 astronaut class of thirty-five, and the women got all the attention, sometimes to the men's disgruntlement. Although some of them must have been grateful when they saw the unrelenting crush of public attention Ride endured when she got back from STS-7. I loved the story of Ride and Svetlana Savitskaya, and that later Ride was the one person on the Challenger Commission trusted enough to leak the test info on the O-rings that failed, because the leaker (to this day unidentified) knew she would do what was right. I remember watching Richard Feynman do that ice water experiment with the O-rings that conclusively proved what caused the Challenger to explode. more
I'm glad this story is now told. It wasn't until 1977 that NASA finally accepted women as candidates for astronaut training. Of that class of 35 candidates, six were women. Loren Grush has done a marvelous job telling their stories -- their paths to applying, their application/interview/acceptance process, their intense training while dealing with skepticism and sexism from some (not all) of their colleagues, their first Shuttle missions and the aftermath of each. I was rooting for all the astronauts, men and women, during the descriptions of the actual flights and the work each payload required. more
Being a reporter interested in science, Loren Grush writes ably of how The Six women supported each other to benefit themselves and each other and writes ably of how the women learned how to field the reporters' questions. However there is a gap. Historians who write competently of women's history of the late 20th century know to reference women's empowerment during WWII and the backlash they received after the military men returned home from the war. That common experience would explain the experience of the Mercury 13 and the surprise of women's hard-earned placement in the Shuttle program. They knew they would have to work together for their common good & for the good of women coming after them. more
This is my favorite kind of nonfiction with its mix of biographical details and background information about science, society, culture, etc. I enjoyed learning about each woman's background and how varied they were. The information about the selection process and training is also fascinating. It's remarkable how they dealt with the sexism rampant at that time in NASA, journalism, and society as a whole. As a parent, I identified with the astronauts experiences with balancing family and careers. more
Absolutely loved this. One of the most interesting books I’ve read about our female astronauts ever. . more
4. 5Thank you @simon. audio for the complimentary audiobook. A fascinating look at the first SIX women who were astronauts. We see their childhood, education, advanced education, and careers that lead them into the space program. more
I received a free copy of, The Six,by Loren Grush, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The six are: Anna Fisher, Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon, Kathy Sullivan, Judy Resnick, and Sally Ride, they are America's first women astronauts. I thought this book was good but I wish it had Christa McAuliffe in it, who died on the Challenger. more
1978. The first women were selected to be astronauts for NASA, and history was made. Certainly, we're all familiar with Sally Ride, at least in part, and this book showcases each of the six women - Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon - and highlights their careers and the paths that led them there. Journalist Loren Grush shows how these women persevered in making an impact despite facing misogyny in the workplace and media. Well written, solid read, interesting stories and trajectories of the women, and a book that I'll recommend heartily to friends and family. more
*Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review*This book is about the first female astronauts, both their lives and their experiences working for NASA. A few of these ladies I had never really heard of before, so it was interesting to learn about their stories. A lot of books about NASA and space exploration don't really give a lot of attention to the female crewmembers (both in space and on the ground) and their contributions. The author focuses on six different woman, all of whom have a fascinating story to tell, and interweaves a discussion of how deeply sexist NASA and media coverage at the time was. My biggest complaint about the book is the narration style, it often felt more like reading a novel and the author would often speculate scenes from the pov of the women she was discussing. more
Loren Grush's The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts is one I will be keeping on my forever shelves. I am unfamiliar with this story and history, and I enjoyed the way it was told in this book. I know sometimes nonfiction is hard to get into for some but when it's well written I am able to jump right in, and I was able to immerse myself in this one. Grush tells us all about the first six women who won places in the program. I found myself captivated by this story and wishing I dreamed this big when I was younger while also reminding me to keep dreaming and star gazing. more
I am in awe of these women. This is a fascinating book. It’s not something I would aspire to, but I loved learning about them and the way they fought to earn their spots. They endured sexism with grace and proved themselves just as capable as the men. I found myself near tears during the descriptions of the Challenger disaster. more
I have mixed feelings about this book. It was important to put these six stories in one place. And it made me very nostalgic for the shuttle program. And the stories of the first six women astronauts is always inspiring. But it also felt like a puff piece. more
4. 5The story of the first 6 women admitted into NASA's astronaut training program and the process of interviews and tests they went through in being selected. However, at this time in our country's history, these women were not only forging a path that had never been done before, they had to face the stereotypes of women "just being housewives" and not warmly welcomed into higher education and work that had traditionally been for men only. These women showed determination, intelligence, curiosity, and sheer grit to face some overwhelming situations. I truly admire their determination and professionalism in their work. more
An inspiring read. I love all things space related and loved hearing the stories of the first women to space. It felt well researched and intimate. I did listen as an audiobook and got a little confused as to who was who, but otherwise it was a great listen. Recommend to non-fic fans and those interested in knowing more about NASA and its formative years. more
4 stars. I wanted to love this book but found some of the narration jarring. We go from present tense to fact giving. I wonder if an audio version might convey this better. Overall I think this story is so important to share, and I LOVE learning about important women in history overcoming societal norms. more
Great narrative nonfiction about the first women in the space program. As someone who loves space and was an aspiring astronaut in elementary school, I enjoyed learning about these women pioneers who broke through the glass ceiling to rise to the highest heights (literally. ). What an inspiring story for girls today. more
Fascinating. I learned so much about NASA’s space program and the six pioneer women astronauts and their journey to space. Each astronaut is given an (almost) equal amount of coverage in the book and I found out more about the culture and their struggle to be taken seriously to be seen as astronauts, on the same footing as their male counterparts. There were some funny stories and the sad moments are handled well. Highly recommended for those interested in space exploration, strong smart women, and the history of the space program. more
I truly did not know how little I knew of the first female astronauts. I went to Google about them later and the lack of articles is honestly shocking. This was a very well researched and kept me engaged the whole time. I love learning about women making history. more
I’ve enjoyed so many books but there are few I want everyone I know to read ASAP. This is that book for me. Informative and inspiring, I came away from the book with a deep love and respect for each of these women and the way they helped to form the world I get to live in today. Forever grateful to live in the future they worked for 💛 here’s to Sally, Judy, Shannon, Rhea, Kathy, and Anna. . more