Marianne Dyson, December 2017

The first landing on the Moon is often cited as the most historic achievement of the 20^th century. With the upcoming 50^th anniversaries of the Apollo missions, and the popularity of the book and movie Hidden Figures depicting the contributions of black women during the Mercury Program (1958-63), many people are asking what role women played in Mission Control leading up to and during the Moon missions.

A decade before I wrote my memoir, A Passion for Space, about my experiences working the first Space Shuttle flights, I collected the rosters starting with Gemini 4 (Gemini 3 was controlled from Florida) and talked with other flight controllers to discover the first women assigned technical positions in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR).

The first woman assigned a technical console in a support room was Frances (Poppy) M. Northcutt in the Flight Dynamics Support room during Apollo 8 in 1968. She is generally acknowledged as the first female flight controller. The first woman in a primary position (in the Mission Operations Control Room, MOCR, seen on TV) was Carolyn Huntoon at the Experiments console during Skylab in 1973.

But there were women working in Mission Control, in the MOCR and support rooms starting with Gemini 8 in March 1966. Who were these pioneering women?

Bond, Allison Bond

The first woman assigned a position in Mission Control at Johnson Space Center was Allison Bond. She worked as an assistant to the Public Affairs Officer (PAO), Paul Haney (1928-2009), for Gemini 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. I believe the woman in this photo from Gemini 8 is her: https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rsj01683. (It costs $10 for this image which I will pay if someone can confirm for me that this is indeed Allison Bond!)

This woman worked the PAO console for Skylab in 1974. Could this be Allison Bond or maybe Patricia Santee? Is the guy Doug Ward? This is my photo of a NASA photo.

There was also a secretary in the room for Gemini 10 and 11. Her name was Virginia Engle. I suspect she reported to Chris Kraft who was the Flight/Mission Operations Director, the boss of the Flight Directors.

The

Author: Marianne

Marianne Dyson is an award-winning children's author, science fiction writer, and former NASA flight controller. To invite her to speak or order her books, visit her website, www.MarianneDyson.com. View all posts by Marianne