The first female astronaut died at age 88



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The first American astronaut candidate, who has sought to get women into space without ever reaching its heights, has died, reported television.

Pilot Jerrie Cobb died in Florida on March 18 after a brief illness. She was 88 years old.

British journalist Miles O'Brien, who was his spokesperson, heard the news of his death.

In 1961, Cobb became the first woman to pass the challenging tests of astronauts. In all, 13 women passed the painful physical tests and became known as Mercury 13. But NASA already had its Mercury 7 astronauts, all test pilots and all the military.

"I would give my life to fly in space, I would really do it. It's hard for me to talk about it, but I would. I would then, and I go now. "

None of the Mercury 13s reached the space, despite Cobb's testimony in 1962 before a congressional panel.

"We are only looking for a place in the space of our country without discrimination," she told a special sub-committee of the House on the selection of astronauts.

The story of the Mercury 13 is told in a recent Netflix documentary and a play based on Cobb's life, "They promised him the moon," is currently being shown in San Diego.

In this 1960 NASA photo, Jerrie Cobb prepares to operate the multi-axis space test (MASTIF) inertia at Lewis Research Center in Ohio. (NASA via AP)

In this 1960 NASA photo, Jerrie Cobb prepares to operate the multi-axis space test (MASTIF) inertia at Lewis Research Center in Ohio. (NASA via AP)

Geraldyn Cobb was born on March 5, 1931 in Norman, Oklahoma, the second daughter of a military pilot and his wife. She piloted the Waco biplane in her father's open cockpit at age 12 and obtained her private pilot license four years later.

Instead of making her an astronaut, NASA hired her as a consultant to talk about the space program. She was fired a week after saying, "I am the most disconcerted consultant of government agencies."

In her autobiography of 1997, she wrote in her autobiography "Jerrie Cobb, solo pilot": "My country, my culture, was not ready to allow a woman to fly in space".

Cobb served for decades as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Amazon jungle.

The Soviet Union eventually sent the first woman into space in 1963: Valentina Tereshkova. NASA flew a woman in space – Sally Ride – only in 1983.

Cobb and other surviving members of the Mercury 13 witnessed the launch of the shuttle in 1995 by Eileen Collins, NASA's first female pilot and later, first space commander.

Still optimistic, Cobb appeared in 1998 to take another step forward while NASA was preparing to launch Mercury astronaut John Glenn – the first American to orbit the world – with the Discovery shuttle to 77 years.

Cobb argued that the study of the geriatric space should also include an older woman.

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"I would give my life to fly in space, it really is," Cobb told The Associated Press at the age of 67 in 1998. "It's hard for me to talk about it, but I would do it. I would then, and I go now. "

"It just did not work at that time, and I just hope and I pray that it will be it now," she added.

This is not the case. NASA has never piloted another elderly person in space, man or woman.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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