The Six

The Six by Loren Grush is a book I probably wouldn't have picked up if my space-race obsessed daughter hadn't urged it on me, but it was an entertaining and educational read. 'The Six' were the first cohort of female astronauts recruited to NASA. The first generation of fighter pilot astronauts were less than impressed with the idea of women competing for their spots in space flights, and the women faced not only push-back from within NASA's ranks but also a lot of patronising and sexist media attention, which must have been pretty tedious. 

The women were all very different personalities and at different life stages -- some single, some married with kids, some straight and at least one gay. They didn't necessarily have much in common but their shared ambition to go to space (even though the Soviets had beaten them to it). But strong friendships and fellowship did spring up and (spoiler) they were all devastated when one of the first recruits, Judy Reznik, was killed in the terrible Challenger explosion in 1986. Sally Ride, another member of the group and the first to actually go to space, was instrumental in the following investigation. It was a sad note to end an otherwise upbeat story about some amazing women.