Marion Findlay Dietrich (July 28, 1926 – December 1, 1974) was an American pilot and one of the

Mercury 13 The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded program run by William Randolph Lovelace II aiming to test and screen women for spaceflight. The participants—First Lady Astronaut Trainees (or FLATs) as Jerrie C ...

who underwent the same

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

testing in the early 1960s as the

Mercury 7 The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959; these seve ...

astronauts.

Biography

Born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1926, Dietrich was the daughter of Richard Dietrich, who worked in the import business, and his wife Marion. Dietrich began flying at an early age, getting a student pilot certificate at age 16. She and identical twin sister

Janet Dietrich Janet Christine Dietrich (July 28, 1926 – June 5, 2008) was an American pilot and one of the Mercury 13 who underwent the same NASA testing in the early 1960s as the Mercury 7 astronauts. Early life Born in San Francisco in 1926, Janet Dietri ...

were the only girls in an aviation class at Burlingame High School. In 1947, Marion Dietrich and her sister Janet entered the inaugural Chico-to- San Mateo Air Race and took first place, defeating experienced men. Dietrich graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1949, with degrees in mathematics and psychology. After placing in other local races, the flying twins collected the second-place trophy in the 1951 All-Women's Transcontinental Air Race, known as the

Powder Puff Derby The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly kn ...

. Dietrich worked for a time as a newspaper reporter for the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'', flying supersonic as a passenger in a fighter aircraft on a story assignment. She also became a commercial transport pilot, flying charter and ferry flights. In 1960, Dietrich and her sister were among a select group of female aviators invited to the

Lovelace Clinic Lovelace Health System is a healthcare company which operates six hospitals in New Mexico, five in Albuquerque and one in Roswell. It is one of New Mexico's largest employers with 3,659 employees as of 2020. The company grew out of the Lovelace ...

in Albuquerque, where experts had screened potential NASA astronauts. The women underwent the same medical tests and examinations as

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...

, and the other men who eventually traveled into space. The extensive exams included everything from swallowing three feet of rubber hose to drinking radioactive water. Though only 5 feet 3 inches tall and 100 pounds, Dietrich completed the regimen of tests, as did her sister and 11 other women. While the women waited for the next phase of their program in July 1961, the testing was halted without warning or explanation. It would be two more decades before the United States launched its first woman into space,

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts V ...

, an astrophysicist turned astronaut. Dietrich died in 1974 from cancer. In 2006, the International Women's Air & Space Museum opened an exhibit honoring the Mercury 13 – Mercury Women: Forgotten Link to the Future. In May 2007, the Mercury 13 received honorary

doctor of science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degrees from the

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dietrich, Marion 1926 births American astronauts 1974 deaths Mercury 13 Aviators from California University of California, Berkeley alumni