Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-11
BY ISABELLE SHELTON
!. star staff Writer

ny ADADELLE ShELION
star staff Writer
The first woman in outer
space may be the wife of a
United States Senator and
the mother Of eight children.
She thinks the Russians
will have a woman up there
by next September" and
she'd like to see this country
beat them to it.
She is Mrs. Philip Hart,
wife Of the junior Democratic
Senator from Michigan and a
licensed ariplane and hell
copter pilot, who is also one
OF IL women in the entire
country to have passed all
the grueling physical tests
which Col. John Glenn and
the other six Mercury Astro-
I1auts completed as a first
step toward their historic
missions.
II and when the National
Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration decides to in
clude women among its as
tronauts, the IL would logi-
cally be the first group Of
candidates for the next
phase Of the training. The
select group is highly expert
enced, with a total of more
than 1000 hours of flying
time.
The testing - a rigorous
five days of physical and
psychological studies - was
conducted at the Lovelace
Foundation in Albuquerque,
N. Mex, where the Mercury
Astronauts also were tested.
Cobb Passes
News that the Nations
best known woman pilot,
Jerrie Cobb, who took the
tests first, had passed with
flying colors, was heralded
at the time by DR.. w. Ran
dolph Lovelace II. He is
chairman Of the Special
Committee on the Life Sci
ences for Project Mercury
and head of the foundation
which bears his name.
I'VE already are in a posi-
ton to say that certain quail
tiles of the female space
pilot are preferable to those
of her male colleague" DR..
Lovelace said Of the tests.
"She weighs much less,
consumes less oxygen, needs
less food and has proved her.
self to be better capable of
stan ding psychological
strains in certain stress stu
ations," he added.
The identity of the other
II women who passed the
tests has until now been
secret.
Mrs. Hart decided to shed
her anonymity in order to
try to build a fire under
NASA officials to include
women in their future plans.
She wrote letters last week
to all the members Of the
Senate and House Space
Committees urging inclusion
of women in NASA's astro-
naut program and inviting
the committees to hear testi-
mony from Jerrie Cobb, who
will be in Washington this
week.
THE research on women in
space to date has been at
the expense Of the Lovelace
Foundation Of New Mexico.
Further research would be
facilitated by its acceptance
by NASA," Mrs. Hart told her .
husbands congressional COL
leagues.
Withheld
ITO date this acceptance
has not been Forthcoming
and the arguments against
it have been specious to say
the least" the letter con-
tinued.
1T is my belief that the
Russians will have success
fully space flown a woman
by next September. I sim
cerely hope that your interest
in this matter will serve to
help get this program off
the ground"
Her choice of September is
based somewhat on female
intuition" Mrs. Hart said.
1T clearly won't be long,"
she declared. This country
has monitored female voices
on the same frequencies that
we know RusSia's male as
tronauts used for practice
before they made their Or
bital flights"
A speech delivered last
month by Miss Cobb at the
First Women's Space SYM
postum in Los Angeles. which
Mrs. Hart also sent to each
Congressman, suggests what
she would tell the legislators.
Just a couple of months
ago I spoke with RuSsia's
leading space medicine ex-
pert, Prof. Yzadosky, who told
me quite frankly that his
country was training female
cosmonauts," Miss Cobb said.
Earlier this month Soviet
Spaceman Yuri Gagarin,
speaking in Cairo, Egypt, said
the time is near when we
will witness representatives
of the fair sex in space.
Besides the many scientif-
ically valid reasons" for US
ing women in space flight,
there is a prestige factor
which cannot be overlooked"
Miss Cobb argued. Whether
you believe in space or not
we are in a space race-and