Men pushed American technology to new limits during the early years of the space race. But women were excluded from major parts of that program.

Del Mar History Professor Erinn McComb examines this theme in her new book “Gender and the Race for Space: Masculinity and the American Astronaut,” published by Anthem Press.

“These were some pretty badass Americans,” McComb said of Margaret Hamilton, the woman who created the computer code that was used in the Apollo mission to the moon. Hamilton coined the term “software engineer” after her work. “There are people who think women aren’t capable of doing X,Y,Z and yet we have women doing it, but people just don’t know about it.” McComb said.

McComb’s book focuses on how the crisis of masculinity created the image of the astronaut in the early years of the space race. She talks about how the space race wasn’t just about technological advances but also societal dynamics like gender in America. A masculinity crisis came about after WWII when women had become more independent during the war years. As technology advanced and women proved they could do all the same jobs men could do, so did the feeling from men that they’d be replaced or not needed.

Del Mar’s Social Sciences Dept. will host a free book talk with McCombs from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, in Wolfe Recital Hall on Heritage Campus. 

McComb was inspired by Margaret A. Weitekamp’s book “Right Stuff Wrong Sex: America’s First Woman in Space Program,” about the 13 women in the 1959-60 privately funded Mercury 13 program who went through the same testing as astronauts and passed yet weren’t allowed to apply for NASA’s astronaut program.

McComb explained the dangerous work the astronauts were doing at the time: sitting on rockets, going into space and going in and out of the Moon and Earth’s orbit. 

“How they engineered that is astonishing, scientists, engineers, astronauts all working together,” said MComb. “And yet at the same time you have women who are also doing something that’s dangerous. They are putting themselves out there asking for equality for space flight and that in the 1960s was very dangerous. Socially isolating.” 

“Women have been equal contributors in USA history, not helpmates.”

“Despite whatever society says you can and can’t do, you and you alone are there to seek your full potential, don’t let anyone stop you,” McCombs said. “We don’t know what we’re capable of until we try it.”