# Almost Astronauts

**Author:** Tanya Lee Stone
**Grade range:** Grades 5–9
**First published:** 2011
**Page count:** 144
**ISBN-13:** `9780763656096`
**ISBN-10:** `0763656097`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/almost-astronauts
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for generations of women to follow. What does it take to be an astronaut? Excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, top physical shape -- any checklist would include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of thirteen women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also brave enough to challenge the government. They were blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and the scrawled note of one of the most powerful men in Washington. But even though the Mercury 13 women did not make it into space, they did not lose, for their example empowered young women to take their place in the sky, pi

## Where this book is assigned

### Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2010 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2010 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2010 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2010 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 9th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2010 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)

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