] More than a generation before Sally Ride became the first
] U.S. woman in space, some experienced female pilots
] dubbed the Mercury 13 almost beat her to the milestone.
]
] Trained in secret in a laboratory run by a NASA medical
] officer, the group's remarkable experiences are
] chronicled in a new book by Martha Ackmann, "Mercury 13:
] The Untold Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of
] Spaceflight."
]
] In 1961, the same year the first U.S. man achieved
] spaceflight, the women underwent the same series of tests
] as the Mercury 7 astronauts, according to Ackmann.
]
] But the Mercury 13 program did not win enough political
] support to continue to completion, she said, and the
] Soviet Union sent the first woman into space in 1963.
]
] Ackmann, an author, journalist and Mount Holyoke College
] professor, recently spoke with CNN during the same week
] as the anniversary of Ride's historic flight on June 18,
] 1983.

CNN.com - Women secretly trained as U.S. astronauts in 1960s - Jun. 23, 2003