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A review by ljrinaldi
Blast Off!: How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America Into Space by Suzanne Slade
5.0
Like Hidden Figures, this is another story of a woman that is forgotten about by the space community because, well, she was a woman.
In fact, the author had so much trouble finding out this *very* important woman, that she almost gave up, but then she thought she would just keep going, and see what she could find.
Before Mary Sherman Morgan designed the fuel for the rockets that took satellites into space, they kept blowing up on launch. She had to finally figure out just the right mix of fuels to get it to work, and work well.
Amazing woman, she started school when she was eight, because her parents wanted her to work on the farm. It wasn’t until a sheriff came and forced the family to send her to school that she went.
She financed her time in college, until she ran out of money and had to take a job to survive, but fortunately it was in science, and from there she was able to work her way up to working for North American Aviation.
Even though this is just a picture book, I would highly recommend checking it out, and reading her story. Her son, Gorget D. Morgan, also wrote a book about her, which is mentioned in the bibliography called “Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America’s First Female Rocket Scientist”.
But, as the author points out, even Wernher von Braun didn’t know her name, and sent her a letter of gratitude which began “Dear Unknown Lady”.
Highly recommend this one.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
In fact, the author had so much trouble finding out this *very* important woman, that she almost gave up, but then she thought she would just keep going, and see what she could find.
Before Mary Sherman Morgan designed the fuel for the rockets that took satellites into space, they kept blowing up on launch. She had to finally figure out just the right mix of fuels to get it to work, and work well.
Amazing woman, she started school when she was eight, because her parents wanted her to work on the farm. It wasn’t until a sheriff came and forced the family to send her to school that she went.
She financed her time in college, until she ran out of money and had to take a job to survive, but fortunately it was in science, and from there she was able to work her way up to working for North American Aviation.
Even though this is just a picture book, I would highly recommend checking it out, and reading her story. Her son, Gorget D. Morgan, also wrote a book about her, which is mentioned in the bibliography called “Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America’s First Female Rocket Scientist”.
But, as the author points out, even Wernher von Braun didn’t know her name, and sent her a letter of gratitude which began “Dear Unknown Lady”.
Highly recommend this one.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.