A Place Among the Stars (2014)
Synopsis
On a fateful day in 1961, Dr. Randy Lovelace, a physician in charge of assessing the physical fitness of potential astronauts, is walking along a Miami beach, during a break at a physician’s conference. Here he runs into pilot Jerrie Cobb. Lovelace has been preoccupied by the question of whether women – taking into account factors such as weight, size, and tolerance for pain – might indeed be better-suited for space travel than men. World-record-breaking pilot Jerrie Cobb is the perfect candidate to test Lovelace’s theory. All her life she has strived to fly higher.
And so begins the true story of the astronaut testing program that will enlist thirteen women who sacrifice much in the belief that they, too, will be considered serious candidates to be among the first Americans in space.
Word of their exploits makes its way into Life and Parade magazines – as well as to the ears of Jackie Cochran, the wealthy elder stateswoman of air travel, who has appeared on more than a few magazine covers herself and who counts both Randy Lovelace and the Vice President of the United States among her friends. With an ego as large as the trophy room she’s had built into her California ranch, Cochran takes steps to insinuate herself into Lovelace’s program.
Contributors
Arielle Basich
Judith Cohn
Beatrice Garrard
Dennis Johnson
Christian Kamkoff
Joanna Kim
Naomi Lattanzi
Blake Montgomery
Thanh D. Nguyen
Maia Paroginog
Evelyn Rodriguez
Anthony So
Emma Steinkellner
Instructors: Dan Archer, Scott Hutchins, Shimon Tanaka