Mercury 13 (2018) User Reviews

Well Made, But Might Not Be For Everyone

[neener3707 · 7/10 · 20 April 2018]

****PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU PASS JUDGMENT**** I've said it many times before, if Netflix does anything right, its the incredibly well made original documentaries and docu-series. As a history buff I enjoyed it, as a man raised by a feminist mother I found it harsh and hateful towards men. With incredible historical footage, well structured stories of the bad ass women's early lives and their work as pilots, questions about sexism of the time and how these women faced it. I definitely enjoyed this documentary, but I watched it with a person that had a problem with it. My mother was a bra-burning feminist of the 60's and 70's, and she told me she found the whole description of NASA as "a good old boys club" to be insulting, because she worked with the NASA branch in our city. She told me she found it offensive because the men didn't do this out of hate, that's just how history was, and there no reason to be angry about it, because as the documentary shows these amazing women and how they changed how women were seen in the workforce.

So putting aside the harsh and semi-hateful attitude towards men, as I said, the film, like other Netflix documentaries, is incredibly well paced and put together, you are taken along on a ride through the history of women pilots both civilian and military, from WW2 WASP's to the women in this documentary. The film calls into question the natural sexist state of the 1940's and 50's and how it was changed through the changing perception of what women were capable of. Not only the story was an interesting one, but all the archival footage was truly incredible to watch. From the female WASP's of World War 2, to the women plane racers of the early 50's, to the Space Race of the Cold War. All of the footage was very well preserved and a true treat for this history fan. All in all it was another great Netflix documentary, though some will find the insults about men in NASA to be insulting, like my feminist mother did. But I liked it, a lot!

What a wonderful documentary this is

[gcsman · 8/10 · 4 May 2018]

Everyone should see this, and since it's on Netflix, it's easy. This episode in the history of the USA space program was a reflection of the 1960's society of the time, but obvious echos still ring today. A doctor attached to the Mercury space capsule program, Dr. Lovelace, started a program on his own initiative to recruit women pilots for possible astronaut training. The ones who passed all the (sometimes bizarre) physical tests, the "Mercury 13", had high hopes of going further but NASA, Congress, and VP Lyndon Johnson summarily dismissed it for reasons that were nothing more than blatant sexism. All the women were accomplished pilots and first-rate human beings by any standard, but the arbitrary "rules" of qualification for astronaut training were such that no woman could meet them -- despite the fact that no piloting was even needed for Mercury capsules; the astronauts were just "spam in a can" as the saying went.

These ladies drew career inspiration from a still earlier generation of women pilots who flew in WWII (the WASPS), including Jacqueline Cochrane who features prominently in the doc. Cochrane herself wanted to be an astronaut, but didn't pass the physicals that the younger women did, and later on betrayed them during crucial Senate hearings about the astronaut program. John Glenn, the fair-haired hero of these early stages of the space program, also comes in for some criticism; he's someone who could have given meaningful support to the women at a critical stage, but did not.

Just like these womens' hopes, the Mercury 13 history has been largely buried, so this doc is very timely. A number of them are still around to be interviewed and tell their story first-hand, and boy are they great to hear. (Dr. Lovelace's daughter is an interviewee as well, and she's excellent.) It's easy to get outraged on their behalf, but that might be too simplistic. Listen to them first. They in turn have clearly been role models and inspirations for the women who have now become a regular part of space exploration.

The chronology of this film is frequently spliced in with absolutely gorgeous flight scenery accompanied by a graceful, soaring musical score. Oh, the magic of flight. Those scenes alone make it worth seeing this fine production.

Good doc about a little known chapter of space race

[fischer_patrick · 6/10 · 17 March 2022]

This was a good documentary. I never knew about the Mercury 13 before I saw this film. The film was well done, the interviews were captivating and I could help but wish these women had gotten their chance.

Women In Space

[bandyabout7 · 10/10 · 24 April 2018]

This was a brilliant documentary of the Mercury 13. Women who fought to become a part of the NASA astronaut training program but were ultimately denied due to unrealistic standards.

I am a giant space nerd. I have visited every space vehicle museum in the US. And only now did I learn about the Mercury 13. These women. These amazing women who wanted nothing more than a chance. A chance to see space and be a part of the journey.

This documentary is amazing. And if I was a teacher or in charge of education standards I would make every student watch this along with the Mercury 7 story.

What is so wrong with telling the whole story.

Great documentary

[Calicodreamin · 8/10 · 30 June 2019]

Loved hearing from the mercury 13 women themselves on their journey. Documentary focuses on the space race and how a group of 13 women passed the first round of tests to enter the space program but were ultimately rejected by nasa. The first hand accounts and viewpoints were really interesting, and gives you a good perspective of the times. These women were rejected solely based on the fact that they were women, not because they didn't pass the tests... which is aggravating.

But follows through to the first woman to pilot a NASA space shuttle and how she honored the 13, which was really special.

Soviets sent women to space no problem

[Prolecenter · 5/10 · 22 April 2018]

Interesting documentary. Liberals will be angered at the way these women were treated and inspired by their courage. Far right wing conservatives will be angry because they are knuckle-dragging reactionary maniacs. My takeaway is quite different from both American camps. I can't understand why these women continued to be patriotic to a society that treated them so badly and why they were somewhat disappointed when the first woman in space was Soviet and not American. I also question the sincerity and inclusiveness of the American bourgeois feminist movement. Documentaries like this point out the injustices of the American capitalist system, but they do not question the fundamental injustice of capitalism itself and of America's backward and reactionary nature. The Americans only did anything remotely progressive because the Soviets embarrassed them and they were forced to by their example as well as by burgeoning social movements and organized labor in the US.

The early space program must be understood in context

[weirdquark · 1/10 · 15 January 2021]

The Space Race was not a game. Nor was it something in the far distant future. It was deadly serious, immediate, and with far-reaching geopolitical consequences in a world where the threat of global nuclear annihilation and totalitarian communism was very real, and where much of the world was made up of non-aligned, newly independent nations trying to decide whether to ally with the West or with Moscow. Demonstrating technological superiority in space was an important tool in swaying people & nations to side with us.

The stakes were high and the list of unknowns stretched beyond the horizon. Some of the early medical examinations and experiments foisted upon astronaut candidates were truly bizarre, because nobody really knew anything about space, or what to expect, or how zero gravity or radiation would affect the human body. So they essentially made stuff up and did everything they could think of to the astronaut candidates, including lots of cameras and metal probes in places where the sun don't shine. Imagine the awkwardness of including women in such invasive and seemingly pointless examinations. Imagine the self-limiting and self-censoring effect that would have had on the early doctors and program architects who were trying to navigate their way through completely unknown territory, trying to get astronauts prepared for space.

Virtually all the astronauts were military, and served as combat fighter pilots or test pilots or both. Why? because they: 1) understood mortal danger 2) understood chain of command 3) were accustomed to long, strenuous, invasive, harsh training regimens

NASA wasn't selecting from a pool of "men" but from the pool of "fighter/test pilot". Women were excluded not primarily (or only) because they were women but because they were CIVILIAN. Why? Because women generally were not part of military combat. Why? Because our culture wasn't (and still isn't) ok with shipping millions of women off to fight, kill, bleed, and die. Men, yes. Always.

Men have always been the expendable sex to be shipped off to kill and die. We dress it up in shiny ways to make it more palatable, with stuff about "honor" "duty" etc. but the brute fact is men are expendable, so they get to die. One of the consequences of this is that occasionally, this actually leads to a benefit and privilege, like prestige assignments such as the astronaut corps. When your mortal enemy suddenly has a commanding and existentially threatening lead in space (If they can launch satellites into space, they can launch nuclear warheads into space) and you need to quickly create a human space program in response, you draw from the most appropriate existing talent pool: fighter pilots & test pilots.

Viewed in its proper historical context, crying "boo sexism! men bad!" seems utterly myopic & narcissistic, and emblematic of a sheltered 21st century perspective that wants to re-frame Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo as some kind of entitlement program that women were unfairly and deliberately excluded from, rather than something the U.S. desperately needed to succeed. The space program didn't exist to make astronauts feel good, fulfilled, and self-actualized. Astronauts were selected, trained, and used as guinea pigs so that the space program could succeed. Before asking "why weren't women *allowed* to be in the space program?", one must first ask "why weren't millions of women *allowed* to be drafted against their will to fight, kill, bleed and die, and to be used as guinea pigs in dangerous programs since time immemorial?"

Why couldn't women go into space? The reasons were preposterous

[bettycjung · 10 May 2018]

5/4/18. Interesting to watch, from a historical perspective. it is sad and a tragedy that these women didn't get a chance to go into space because of the sexual discrimination at the time. Reasons for denying them the chance now seem totally preposterous. However, the interviews of these women probably could have been done better.

Great source material, not a great documentary.

[Offworld_Colony · 3/10 · 18 February 2020]

Listless and artless and toneless. Nice artwork though.

Really wanted to watch this

[tlharrison-59546 · 3/10 · 27 June 2022]

I wanted to watch this but it's really slow to start and the awful music they chose is intolerable. Had to turn it off. The story seemed interesting though.