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Jerrie Cobb

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description Jerrie Cobb Overview

Jerrie Cobb (1931-2019) was an American aviator who set multiple world altitude and speed records in the 1950s while flying military aircraft at Oklahoma City's Aviation Center. She became the first woman to complete astronaut testing as part of the Mercury 13 program in 1961, a privately funded effort that evaluated women's capabilities for spaceflight. Despite passing the same physical and psychological examinations as the male Mercury astronauts, she and other qualified women were not permitted to join NASA's astronaut corps due to gender restrictions at the time.

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What did Jerrie Cobb accomplish before the Mercury 13 testing program?

Jerrie Cobb set world altitude and speed records during the 1950s while flying military aircraft. Her record-setting work helped establish her as one of the leading American women aviators of that era.

Was Jerrie Cobb an astronaut?

Cobb completed astronaut testing in 1961 as part of the privately organized Mercury 13 program. NASA did not send the Mercury 13 women into space, so she never flew an official NASA mission.

Where did Jerrie Cobb carry out much of her aviation work?

She carried out important record-setting flights through Oklahoma City's Aviation Center. Her work there involved high-performance military aircraft rather than routine civilian passenger flying.

When did Jerrie Cobb live?

Jerrie Cobb was born in 1931 and died in 2019. Her career connected the record-setting aviation of the 1950s with the early American space race of the 1960s.