The Netflix Original Documentary "Mercury 13", follows a group of American women who underwent rigorous screening tests as stand-ins for astronauts selected by 'NASA' in 1959 for "Project Mercury", streaming April 20, 2018 on Netflix:
William Randolph Lovelace II, a former 'Flight Surgeon' and later, chairman of the 'NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science'...
...helped develop the tests for NASA's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests.
"In 1960, Lovelace invited female pilot 'Jerrie' Cobb to undergo the same rigorous challenges as the men.
Cobb became the first American woman (and the only one of the Mercury 13) to undergo and pass all three phases of testing.
Since doctors didn't know what stresses astronauts would experience in space, tests ranged from the typical X-ray and general body physicals to the women having to swallow a rubber tube so their stomach acids could be tested.
Doctors also tested the reflexes in the ulnar nerve of the woman's forearms using electric shock. To induce vertigo, ice water was shot into their ears, freezing the inner ear so doctors could time how quickly they recovered.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Mercury 13"...
