The Six

The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts

By: Loren Grush

Narrated by: Inés del Castillo

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

“Vivid.” —The Guardian * “Engrossing.” —Booklist * “Suspenseful, meticulously observed, enlightening.” —Margot Lee Shetterly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Figures

In this account of America’s first women astronauts “Grush skillfully weaves a story that, at its heart, is about desire: not a nation’s desire to conquer space, but the longing of six women to reach heights that were forbidden to them” (The New York Times).

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group then made up exclusively of men—had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed unqualified for space flight. Eventually, though, NASA recognized its blunder and opened the application process to a wider array of hopefuls, regardless of race or gender. From a candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected in 1978—Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.

In The Six, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows these brilliant and courageous women enduring claustrophobic—and sometimes deeply sexist—media attention, undergoing rigorous survival training, and preparing for years to take multi-million-dollar payloads into orbit. Together, the Six helped build the tools that made the space program run. One of the group, Judy Resnik, sacrificed her life when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at 46,000 feet. Everyone knows of Sally Ride’s history-making first space ride, but each of the Six would make their mark. “A spirited group biography…it’s hard not to feel awe for these women” (The Wall Street Journal).

©2023 Loren Grush (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Wow there is so much in this book that was new to me!!!

I loved hearing the background and difficulty that surround these amazing women trying to get into the space program

lives of the first women in space

very detailed at times I loose interest. bit overall alot of knowledge of preparing for space training g idk. personal life was good

The mysogeny of NASA, and the Press in the 60s, 70s, 80s...

As a pioneer in my own field, I understand the idea of "death by 1000 cuts". By making small routine things difficult, those in power prevent those on the way up, whom they, for some reason, do not deem their peer, to have continuous anxiety and persecution. It is incredibly exhausting. This was elegantly portrayed in this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Why can't those in power choose people by their accomplishments, not their sex or color????????

Amazingly Accurate Portrayal of NASA’s first women

Loren’s extraordinary and timely research brought history to life in these six women and those around them. I found this book a fantastic trip down memory lane, but I also learned quite a bit that I did not know. I started at NASA six years after these six astronauts. Most of the engineers were unhappy that NASA hired female engineers. And the primarily white, male, over-50 workforce did not know what to do about these young and multicultural women. I especially liked how Loren wrote about the prejudice and discrimination against women. She wrote how we felt at the time - prejudice and discrimination were just something we had to endure to work in the most incredible job in the world.

I listened to the audible version, which was narrated very well. Now, I need to get a paper copy so I can read sections over again.

Great listen!

Inspiring and motivating, I share the same sentiment of another reviewer in that I wish I had this book when I was younger. I did not know much of this subject as I was not born during this time period but these woman were fearless. My only drawback was I found the narrator hard to understand at times.

Inspiring

I wish I had this book as a child to understand how women changed NASA and space exploration. The story is wonderfully done and displays how powerful the six were during a time when sexism was rampant. These women were already breaking traditions in their industries before entering the space program, but their accomplishments at NASA are impressive and ground-breaking. I recommend sharing this story with young women so they understand how the six are in the ranks of Billie Jean King and ruth bader ginsberg in pushing women forward in history.

Great listen

Love the flow, from the beginning of space travel for women to current day, this book was a great read. The narrators voice was easy to listen to.

Good performance, fascinating facts

I've always been a close follower of the space program since I was a child. I was born a few months after the first Shuttle launch and one of my first truly vivid memories was the Challenger disaster.

As I grew up, I became more and more enthralled with spaceflight and wanted to become an astronaut. Realistically, that couldn't have happened due to my chronic health problems, but I still followed NASA closely. This book brings some of my childhood heroes to life like never before, and Ms. Del Castillo lends a surprising level of emotion to the text that makes you want to keep listening. Highly recommend.

Wonderful account of the first 6

Great story, compassionate, adventurous, and informative about the first 6 women astronauts. The prologue is a perfect ending.

Awesome

If this was in print, I’d say I couldn’t put it down. Well written and gripping ,great bit of history and those 6 are still motivating for all