MAKERS: Season 2: Women In Space

Six documentaries in the MAKERS project feature groundbreaking American women in different spheres of influence: war, comedy, space, business, Hollywood and politics.

Each program will profile prominent women and relate their struggles, triumphs and contributions as they reshaped and transformed the landscape of their chosen vocations.

On "Women In Space," trace the history of women pioneers in the U.S. space program. Some, like aviators Wally Funk and Jerrie Cobb, passed the same grueling tests as male astronauts, only to be dismissed by NASA, the military and even Lyndon Johnson, as a distraction.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a spacecraft.

The program includes interviews with Collins, as well as Sally Ride’s classmates Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan, and features Mae Jemison, the first woman of color astronaut, and Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station.

The hour ends with the next generation of women engineers, mathematicians and astronauts — the new group of pioneers, like Marleen Martinez and Dava Newman, who continue to make small but significant steps forward.

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Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot a spacecraft.

Courtesy of Kurt Williams

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Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station.

Courtesy of MAKERS

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Ellen Ochoa, a former astronaut and director of the Johnson Space Center.

Courtesy of Kurt Williams

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Rhea Seddon, doctor and astronaut.

Courtesy of MAKERS

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Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX.

Courtesy of MAKERS

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Marleen Martinez, Spacecraft Test Engineer, B.S. Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering.

Courtesy of Kurt Williams

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Judith Resnik posing in front of launch with crew.

Courtesy of MAKERS

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1978 class women portrait with astronaut suit.

http://www.pbs.org/makers/season-two/women-in-space/

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1978 class female astronauts pose in front of model shuttle.

Courtesy of MAKERS

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Protest with "Women Should be Trained as Astronauts" sign, circa 1970s, Mount Holyoke.

Courtesy of MAKERS

Watch Videos:

Visit the MAKERS project official website for the largest video collection of women's stories.

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This episode originally aired in 2014.