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Such a wonderful concept. SO poorly executed.
I was very excited to explore more about the lives of the wives of the astronauts in the early NASA programs. Thrust into the spotlight and into cookie-cutter molds of perfect wife-dom, these women became the reality stars of yesteryear.
There is Trudy Cooper, who had been a pilot in her own right. Jeannie Bassett & Marilyn See, who’s husbands were killed during their test flight. Marilyn Lovell who hid her pregnancy. I couldn’t wait for this strong crew of women to have their stories told. Instead, I got babble about a husband who disapproved once of one of the wives’ beehive hairdo, stereotypical girlishness, and the wives “need of a man.”
Koppel also showcases sloppy research, claiming at one point that Valentina Tereshkova (a cosmonaut who was the first female to fly in space) was pregnant at the time of her mission. There is no evidence to back this up and Tereshkova had her first child a full year after her mission. I have serious questions for her editors and questions about the validity of other information tucked into this book.
The book traces much of the already told history of the space program without much additional honesty from the women who should be the protagonists of the narrative. If you’re looking for new information, or fleshed out women’s history, you won’t find it in here.
Sigh.
One Jetsons-esque Kitchenette out of Five.
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