| NASA introduced the first group of women to its astronaut corps in 1978. Following in the wake of the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, the move by NASA to integrate its most public workforce on the surface seems to be a reaction to the federal policy dictating that no discrimination based on sex would be tolerated. Given that the Soviet Union launched its first woman into space in 1963, NASA's delay in sexually integrating the astronaut corps again suggested a policy of discrimination against women as astronauts in America's space program.; This dissertation sketches a much different picture of NASA and the agency's decision to select women as astronauts. NASA's hiring policies of 1965 regarding sex, race, and religion actually improved upon the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But the political and cultural climate in the United States in the 1960s that affected NASA---in addition to technical concerns---limited the agency's decision-making ability to push for women astronauts earlier than it did.; Once NASA's administration made the definitive decision to bring women in the astronaut corps, cultural and technical issues still played a part in the integration process. The dissertation explores that process as a case study of broader historical questions about the sexual integration of all-male workforces. Ultimately it is the same external cultural and political eyes that delayed integration until the 1970s that judge NASA's success in sexually integrating the astronaut corps. |
