Almost Heaven: Women on the Frontiers of Space

Kevles, Bettyann

ISBN 10: 0738202096 / ISBN 13: 9780738202099

Published by Basic Books, New York, 2003

About this Item

Fine condition 1st Edition/1st Printing in Fine condition dust jacket of Bettyann Kevles seminal history of female astronauts. Inscribed ("For Fred and Fritzie -- Parents of ambitious daughter and friends of longstanding") and *SIGNED* on the title page. "In Almost Heaven, Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles tells the story of women space travelers in their own words, from those early days of closed doors to the first, grudgingly allowed steps of the late 1970s, to the equal opportunities of the twenty-first century. It is a long-needed and thoroughly accomplished account of this missing chapter in the history of piloted space exploration." -- Michael Cassutt, author of Who's Who in Space. This copy is spotless inside and out. The only defect is that the lower left corner of the back cover is bumped about 1/8". The dust jacket is not price-clipped, is completely clean and has no chips or tears but does have a few wrinkles near the edges. We will pack it in bubblewrap and ship it in a sturdy box to ensure safe delivery.

Seller Inventory # ABH390

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Almost Heaven: Women on the Frontiers of Space
• Publisher: Basic Books, New York
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0738202096
• ISBN 13: 9780738202099
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

The fascinating-and untold-tale of space-faring women, from Valentina Tereshkova to Kalpana Chawla. When we first blasted our way into space a generation ago, we did so with men from each of the superpowers. Women were excluded from one of the most exciting adventures of the century-and not because they weren't up to the challenge. In 1962, three accomplished female pilots took their case before the U.S. Congress, but they were dismissed as unpatriotic. We were in a Cold War-a space race-and NASA had already chosen the Mercury Seven to represent America. In Almost Heaven , acclaimed writer Bettyann Kevles gives voice to the women of the space age-women who had the "right stuff," but had to struggle to prove it. Through intensive interviews and meticulous research, Kevles illuminates what makes these women tick. What were their unique concerns as female astronauts? Were they truly accept ed into the astronaut corps, or were they merely "tokens"? She also poses a question that will affect generations to come: Is NASA preparing women as well as men for travel beyond Earth's orbit, or is the research still biased toward men?The stories of these forty women, told here for the first time in rich and colorful detail, explore the convergence of culture and science-and suggest the battle is far from over.

About the Author

Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles is a writer whose reviews of books on science have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio’s Science Friday. She is the author of Females of the Species: Sex and Survival in the Animal Kingdom.