Book Review - The Six -- Young Readers Edition: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

 

The Six -- Young Readers Edition: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush is about the accomplishments of the first female astronauts. When NASA first sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, the agency didn’t allow women to participate. NASA claimed that only military test pilots had the skill set necessary. Women were not allowed to become test pilots either.

In the 1980s, there was a new push for women to travel into the space frontier as Russia sent the first female into space. NASA decided to make space travel more inclusive and opened its application process to women and people of color. During the application and selection process, six women scientists were picked - Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Anna Lee Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon. They wanted to prove that they belonged in space and had all the necessary skills to become astronauts.

The book is written by journalist Loren Grush who depicts the struggles and journey the women went through to become the first female astronauts. The book was an interesting read, and it had a lot of information and tidbits about the astronauts that I never knew before. I knew that Sally Ride was the first female, but I knew very little about the other talented women. I also like that it included interviews from people who knew them. I liked that the book contained additional resources if readers wanted to read more about the astronauts.