by Lisa Grush with Rebecca Stefoff

For the first several decades of the space race, women and minorities were not allowed to train to become astronauts, partially because of the severe restrictions on education that were part of the prerequisites, and partially just because of bias and prejudice. By the 1980’s, women were finally brought into NASA to train to become astronauts. Sally Ride, Judy Resnick, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Renna Seddon were the first women selected to prove that women had as much intelligence, grit, and rights as men to travel off planet. This book shares their story as they dreamed as children, braved the eventual application process, and finally trained for their turn to fly. Readers get to see this renaissance period of NASA’s growth and change, ending with the tragedy to the Challenger in 1986 and its aftermath. Color photographs are included in the center of the book, putting faces to the names. Also included are a timeline from 1943 to 1987 highlighting the lives of the 6 women and their connections to the space program, mini bios of them, and source information for the book. I appreciated the look at NASA from beyond the first group of primarily white men that has been so frequently written about with this female-centered chunk of history. A nice addition to a library’s collective biography collection and to a more diverse space collection.