Thought I'd share some of my radio docs - where I got the idea and what they led to in the future in some cases. Many of these are space related and often about women's achievements. My first space doc was in 1996. I was living/freelancing in New York when I read an article... 
It had two lines in it referencing the Mercury 13 women - pilots who had wanted to be astronauts in the early 60s but, unlike Valentina Tereshkova in last tweet, never made it. From then on I was on a mission to find out all about them. Starting with Jerrie Cobb...
She took the same physical tests as the male Mercury 7 astronauts in 1960 and passed, scoring higher than most of the men. This led to a call to other female pilots across the US to also take the tests at the Lovelace Clinic, New Mexico. As I'm sure you all know (!) - 13 passed.
I sold the idea of a radio programme on the Mercury 13 to Radio 4 and set about tracking them down. Jerrie was doing missionary work in South America but I got hold of four: Irene Leverton, Sarah Ratley, Jerri Truhill and Wally Funk (the youngest, pictured).
I interviewed Wally, Sarah and Jerri in Houston, 1997, and met Irene in Arizona, staying in her trailer - so helpful as a BBC radio budget can be a stretch. Back in London I produced/presented Right Stuff Wrong Sex. Over 20 years later, it's still up. bbc.co.uk/archive/right-…
That wasn't the end of the story. I kept in touch with several of the women for years and made two radio programmes with Wally including Woman with the Right Stuff, updating the women in spaceflight story, with her as presenter. That was a blast... bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04…
In 1997 I tried to sell the story of the Mercury 13 to UK publishers. I was told readers weren't interested in women's history. But I didn't give up. Nearly three decades later I wrote @WallyFunksSpace covering Wally's amazing life, women's space history and our travels.
The response to Wally in the UK was amazing and it's great that I'm not the only one fascinated by this part of space history. As Hidden Figures so wonderfully revealed, women have always played a role in the space industry. The history books just need to be amended...
So if you're interested in journalism - or have a space story you want to tell - don't be put off by set backs. The great thing about podcasting and blogging now is that you can always do it yourself too. History isn't complete without the whole story. Tell yours.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
