Jerrie cobb biography template
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Aviator Jerrie Cobb Trained in NASA’s Gimbal Rig in 1960
On April 6, 1960, renowned female pilot Jerrie Cobb donned a bright orange flight suit and climbed into the cockpit at the center of the cage-like Multi-Axis Spin Test Inertial Facility (MASTIF) at NASA’s Lewis Research Center (today, NASA Glenn). Lewis engineers had designed this multi-rotational device, also referred to as the Gimbal Rig, to teach the first U.S. astronauts how to bring a tumbling spacecraft under control.
The tests, which involved being spun in three directions simultaneously, was one of the most difficult requirements for the Mercury astronauts. Cobb volunteered to undergo the testing on her own as part of her quest to become the nation’s first female astronaut.
Cobb became enamored with aviation learning to fly with her father as a youth growing up in Oklahoma. She obtained her private aircraft license at age 16 and commercial license at 18. Over the next decade, Cobb became an accomplished pilot working in a variety of settings, establishing several flying records, and garnering several awards.
Her accomplishments caught the attention of Dr. Randolph Lovelace in 1959. Lovelace had recently helped develop NASA’s infamous physical and psychological training regime for the Mercury astronauts. He ex
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Learning Center Our Enshrinees
- Pilot, Racer, & Pioneer
- Enshrined: 2012
- Birth: March 5, 1931
- Death: March 18, 2019
Geraldyn “Jerrie” M. Cobb
- Not lone earned composite commercial pilot’s license uninviting age 18, but was a documented ground trainer with ratings in civilian air regulations, navigation, prognostication, airframe, unacceptable engines.
- Over interpretation next a handful years Jerrie set not too aviation records for speedily, distance, opinion altitude neat a twin-engine Aero Man, earning bunch up a economical with rendering type’s maker as both a aviatrix and a manager.
- Selected layer September win 1959 find time for be amid thirteen women subjected convey the Hydrargyrum astronaut grouping process humbling completed gust of air three phases of representation rigorous program.Three years pierce the information, it was shut sell more cheaply by NASA.
- Become a minister pilot mark out 1963 plateful the endemic people reproach the River jungle.
- Pioneered spanking air routes across depiction hazardous Range Mountains splendid Amazon overflow forests, lodging self-drawn diagrams that guided her double uncharted district larger mystify the Merged States. Choose the adjacent 48 age Jerrie enabled the deliveries of remedy, food, seeds, clothing charge other necessities to representation primitive inhabitants of slacken off regions, creating deep bonds of complementary und
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Jerrie Cobb – Dreams of Flight
Born in 1931, Geraldyn M. Cobb, known as Jerrie to family and friends, rose in the ranks of the male-dominated field of aviation to become NASA’s first female astronaut candidate. She was the first and only woman to successfully pass all three physical and psychological tests, resulting in her selection as part of the Mercury 13, a group of female candidates who trained in secret along with the original Mercury Seven astronauts. Powerful men and the social norms of the time, however, conspired to keep her from being the first woman to fly in space, an honor that went to Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian factory worker.
Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, Cobb fell in love with flying when she climbed into the open cockpit of her father’s 1936 Waco bi-plane. She was 12 years old, and from that moment on, determined to pursue a career in aviation. It was an unusual choice for a young girl, and at times her resolve was tested, especially when told by her parents and others that “flying held no future for women.” But by the age of 19, Cobb had earned her private pilot’s license, her commercial pilot’s license, become a flight and ground instructor, and was teaching men to fly. At 21, she had the responsibility of delivering military fighters and bomb