The Most Fascinating Woman You’ve Never Heard Of

Jacqueline Cochran turns out to be the most fascinating woman you’ve never heard of. She was the lead the women's Air Force service pilots in World War II and the first woman to break the sound barrier and held more records than any pilot male or female the world over when she died in 1980. In this episode of Space Curious, "Fighting for Space" author and spaceflight historian Amy Shira-Teitel explains how Cochran and fellow pilot Jerri Cobb both wanted to see women become astronauts but went about it in two different ways. Though Jackie Cochran never made it to space her story is one of entrepreneurship and determination that led her to try to reach for the stars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices