Sarah Ratley ( Gorelick; August 30, 1933 – March 17, 2020) 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 ...

female

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s group.

Biography

Born in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

, Gorelick learned to fly in 1949 and raced in 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 know ...

and toured with the

Ninety-Nines The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...

. She graduated from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, minoring in physics, chemistry and aeronautics, then worked as an engineer at

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. During a tour of Europe she heard about a space research program which produced the

, and was invited to take part upon her return. She underwent invasive testing, including freezing the inner ear with ice water to induce vertigo. She said of the experience, "The tests didn't bother me at all ..When you are young you can take anything. My mind was made up: I was going to pass." After the Mercury 13, Gorelick became an accountant with the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

and in 2007 received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the

University of Wisconsin 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, t ...

. Gorelick died on March 17, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorelick, Sarah 1933 births 2020 deaths American women aviators Aviators from Kansas University of Denver alumni NASA people Mercury 13