posted 01-04-2024 01:39 PM               

This book is the second edition of "Women Spacefarers" and tells the fascinating stories of the valiant women who broke down barriers to join the space program. Beginning with the orbital flight of USSR cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and continuing to the present day, it covers the many female players who have had a central role in the greatest adventure of our time.

The book includes the biographies of, and in some cases interviews with, the brave women who have flown in space. For each entry, the author contextualizes the spacefarer's accomplishments in light of the political and cultural climate of the time. The second edition features fifteen additional profiles on figures such as Jessica Meir and Wally Funk; new interview material; a new thematic structure based on each woman's science specialty and role; an expanded glossary; and more.

The result is a gallery of pioneering women who reached for the stars: women who, with exceptional skill, hard work, and dedication, reached impressive careers as accomplished pilots, researchers, engineers and managers, and left a legacy of strength for all aspiring spacefarers.

• Paperback, 594 pages
  
• Springer (May 24, 2023)
  
• ISBN-10: ‎303119859X
  
• ISBN-13: ‎978-3031198595

posted 01-04-2024 01:40 PM               

For the first 15 years America launched only men into space. Then in 1976, with the call for the eighth group of NASA astronauts, 1,000 women of the 8,370 applicants responded. Sally Ride became the first American woman, and one of 75 stories told by Umberto Cavallaro in his newest book from Springer Praxis, "To The Stars."

Umberto Cavallaro is the founder and current president of the Italian Astrophilately Society (AS.IT.AF) which uses philately to tell the story of the conquest of space. He also edits the quarterly Journal AD*ASTRA (www.asitaf.it). His most recent releases are "The Race to the Moon Chronicled in Stamps, Postcards, and Postmarks: A Story of Puffery vs. the Pragmatic" (2018), and "Women Spacefarers: Sixty Different Paths to Space" (2017) both from Springer Praxis Books.

In his latest book Cavallaro takes us from Valentina Tereshkova's 1963 Soviet flight to Sally Ride's first mission 20 years later and on to women orbiting the Earth today. Chapters include First Ladies in Space (as well as a nod to the Mercury 13 and FLATs that did not), Performing Science and Engineering in Space (the female entrance into the Astronaut Corp), Outside the Spacecraft, Madam Robotics Expert, The Right Stuff (Eileen Collins piloting the Space Suttle while Saudi women were not permitted to drive a car), Military Women Astronauts, and Spaceflight Participants. By dividing the 75 portraits into these seven buckets we get a glimpse on how women shattered the glass ceiling and rarefied air of the spacefarer. While the lion's share of the portraits are Americans he highlights women from Great Britan, India, China, USSR, Iran, Germany, Russia, France, Canada, Italy, and Japan.

What makes Cavallaro's writing worth reading is his accessible style and well researched subjects. He mixes signed official photographs and space event covers to assist in telling his story. Like his previous works, he includes useful appendices (Women Spacefarers, EVAs, Military Astronauts, and Women Spacefarers Married to Astronauts) and the Index makes for easy reference.

Umberto Cavallaro is a world leader in promoting spaceflight. He does this through exhibits of space event covers, his lectures, and through a growing library of terrific books. Well worth a read.