Female astronaut training. Jerrie Cobb (born 1931) training on the MASTIF (Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility) for the Mercury Project. The MASTIF trained astronauts to control the spin of a tumbling spacecraft. Geraldyn M. Jerrie" Cobb was selected by NASA as one of 13 women (the Mercury 13) to be trained as astronauts. Cobb passed all 3 phases of the Mercury Astronaut Program, but NASA then added a rule that prevented women from being astronauts. Cobb then worked as a missionary, and flew food and medical supplies to the Amazon for over 34 years. From 1998 she has been campaigning for a new chance to fly in space. Photographed in April 1960, at Lewis Research Center, Ohio, USA."