In this 1960 photo made available by NASA, Jerrie Cobb prepares to operate the Multi-Axis Space Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF) at the Lewis Research Center in Ohio. The three-axis rig was developed to train Project Mercury pilots in bringing a spinning spacecraft under control. The two controllers in Cobb's hands activated small nitrogen gas thrusters that were used to bring the MASTIF under control. She was one of several female pilots who underwent the skill and endurance testing that paralleled that of the Project Mercury astronauts. In 1961 Jerrie Cobb was the first female to pass all three phases of the Mercury Astronaut Program. NASA rules, however, stipulated that only military test pilots could become astronauts and there were no female military test pilots. Cobb, NASA’s first female astronaut candidate, died in Florida at the age of 88 on March 18, 2019. (NASA via AP)
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