I’m a month behind schedule to release this review for two reasons. The first involves UPS UK being as professional and knowledgeable at delivering as I am at building working rockets in the game Kerbal Space Program. After a month-long delay for the delivery of an early copy, that wasn’t the biggest issue. Instead, the second issue was getting my thoughts together to adequately do what a reviewer is meant to; sell you on the thing being reviewed. As I’ve said several times, I’m dyslexic, so there is always a grain of salt I have to put into my opinions on anything with lots of reading. Yet both book reviews I’ve done for this site are filled with joy and excitement.

With this being only the second, it is surprising how once again, on the first day of having my hands on the book I blasted through it like no one’s business. This is all down to Amy Shira Teitel‘s expert way of explaining both the science and history of the early days of space to anyone, she’s made a career of it with her YouTube channel and blog Vintage Space. Given most of the early days of space and aeronautics was dominated by the swinging ’50s bravado and what would have been stressful ’60s of men, how women came into prominence at all is a story not often told.

This is where, Fighting for Space: Two pilots and their historic battle for Female Spaceflight, comes in. A detailed history of the two women who not only fought for a place for themselves; but a place for women in the future of spaceflight and much more. It is the story of Jackie Cochran and Jerry Cobb, two women who grew up in separate worlds yet were so closely connected before they knew it.

Jackie, in particular, is the paradigm of a woman with focus, determination, and iron-clad sight on her goals. Raised in not the best conditions and hitting her teens around the time of a large emancipation movement for women in America with the suffrage, she could and did fight tooth and nail for everything. Her life story, detailed down to the last inch in the book, is just jaw-droppingly eccentric and wonderful. Pitched with highs and lows, working with historical figures you’ve heard of no matter who you are and those you may not have, everything about her is awe-inspiring.

Her strong willed nature, is pitted against everything from horrible teachers, those she loved, those that inspired her, and those who built her life character, all the way to her romances. Simply starting a business of her own from the ground, to directing her husband with her ambitions being filled. She is one of a kind and could rarely be matched with someone just as ambitious, high flying, and esoteric for her time.

Jerrie Cobb, the young, often-called “hero” of the story, is more contemporary. She was just as driven, seeking new heights, but with a more of an everyday hard-working tale about her. She did not find the lows Jackie found in her childhood and teens, but was equally simple of being a mid-western “girl-next-door;” minus her speech problems in early life. Born around the time Jackie was learning to fly, her view on life stands on an opposite end of the spectrum than her senior. The former came from a time when she would never be allowed to vote, and the latter was raised in a time when women were once again told their place wasn’t where she wanted to be.

Though blockades were stopping her in some aspects, the idea of a woman flying was not as uncommon as it was in years prior. So much so that still in her teens, seeing her dad getting his pilot’s license, she knew what she would do early on. Where both women come together and come to butt heads is space. One was excited and driven, another testified against the idea of women in space.

Both of their life stories are amazing to even think of, but there’s one aspect of the book that I specifically don’t love as much. While it is part of their life stories, their romances and general love lives are strange to think about. Of course, liberty has to be taken on some accounts of their private lives, that they may have written down though had given different views on, some of it sounds very fairytale-esque. This is not a downside for everyone, though it does feel jarring when talking about LBJ, JFK, Chuck Yager, and other major players of both their fights for and against women in space.

The detail spilled into every paragraph does so much to imbue a desire to find out more about each woman. This book is filled with joy, exciting stories, and famous faces of the political, entertainment, and aviation worlds. There is not a better person I could suggest having done the work on this book, as Amy always knows how to both make space and history fun and engaging; even to idiots such as myself.

Despite my aversion to the love life of both women being so, as I’ve described “fairytale-esque,” everyone who enjoys the Apollo, Mercury, and Gemini-era of space history should pick up Fighting For Space. If not for the stories of two incredible women opening doors, to fill out this small part of the larger story of space history.

An advanced manuscript of Fighting for Space: Two pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight was provided by Grand Central Publishing for this review.

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Fighting for Space: Two pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight

$30.00

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• An insightful look at two leading figures in history.
• Unfettered access of an piece of history not spoken about too often.
• Expert detail on everything.

Cons

• Personally, the sections on the love lifes of both women felt odd.