Sarah Ratley ( Gorelick; August 30, 1933 – March 17, 2020) was an American pilot and one of the

Mercury 13 The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who in 1959–60 took part in a privately funded research program run by physician William Randolph Lovelace II, a private contractor to NASA, which aimed to test and screen the women for spaceflight ...

female

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s group.

Biography

Born in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

, Gorelick learned to fly in 1949 and raced in the

Powder Puff Derby The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly ...

and toured with the

Ninety-Nines The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...

. She graduated from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, minoring in physics, chemistry and aeronautics, then worked as an engineer at

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

. During a tour of Europe she heard about a space research program which produced the

, and was invited to take part upon her return. She underwent invasive testing, including freezing the inner ear with ice water to induce vertigo. She said of the experience, "The tests didn't bother me at all ..When you are young you can take anything. My mind was made up: I was going to pass." After the Mercury 13, Gorelick became an accountant with the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

and in 2007 received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. Gorelick died on March 17, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorelick, Sarah 1933 births 2020 deaths American women aviators Aviators from Kansas University of Denver alumni NASA people Mercury 13