Almost Astronauts - Tanya Lee Stone and Margaret A. Weitekamp

In 1961, the Mercury 13 women were trained and fully qualified to be astronauts. But they ended up Almost Astronauts (Candlewick, $24.99 hb, $17.99 pb) because NASA and other federal agencies fought to keep women and minorities out of the space program. Archival photographs and interviews with the original thirteen female astronauts are included in Tanya Lee Stone’s story of these pioneers: women who paved the way for women pilots and astronauts decades later. Ages 10-14.