Playback: The Glass Stratosphere

Overheard at National Geographic

As billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson lead the charge for a new commercial space race, we revisit an episode from our archives: What if women had been among the first to head to the moon? A NASA physician thought that wasn't such a far-fetched idea back in the 1960s. He developed the physical and psychological tests used to select NASA's first male astronauts. We'll investigate what happened to his program and what the women who were involved had to say.

For more information about this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard

Want more?

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Where is the edge of space anyway? The answer depends on who you ask.

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Since the first humans went to space 60 years ago, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to leave Earth. Here’s how the “right stuff” has changed since then.

And for subscribers:

See why some scientists think women are better suited to spaceflight than men.

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