On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts

by Valerie Neal

The definitive history of all 61 American women astronauts that's perfect for fans of The Six eager for moreSally Ride became a household name as the first American woman in space, but a wealth of equally impressive women have come after her. America's Women Astronauts spans 45 years and 61 astronauts to shares the triumphant histories of women who made space for themselves in a male-dominated field.Valerie Neal, emerita curator in the Department of Space History at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, offers a culturally insightful history of the experiences of women astronauts, the challenges they've faced, and their distinctive stories. Collectively, they've flown on every operational spacecraft, completed more than 100 space shuttle missions and more than 20 long-duration stays on the International Space Station and Russian Space Station Mir, and continue to prove themselves in present-day space exploration efforts.The book includes 30 black-and-white photographs to complement the historical account. With its sweeping look from the first women astronauts to Christina Hammock Koch, assigned to the first Artemis mission to the Moon slated for 2024, there is no comparable space history book. America's Women Astronauts is an inspiring tribute to unsung women's history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

360 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Dr. Valerie Neal joined the Museum as a curator in 1989 and is responsible for artifact collections from the Space Shuttle era and International Space Station, most prominently the orbiter Discovery. She led the Museum's effort to prepare shuttle test vehicle Enterprise for public display and to acquire Spacelab, SpaceShipOne, and the Manned Maneuvering Unit for the national collection. She worked closely with NASA and Museum staff to orchestrate the transfer of Discovery to the Smithsonian and the release of Enterprise back to NASA in 2012. She has curated three major exhibitions: Where Next Columbus? on the challenges of future exploration; Space Race; and Moving Beyond Earth about spaceflight in and beyond the Space Shuttle era.

Dr. Neal's publications include Discovery, Champion of the Space Shuttle Fleet (2014) and two edited books on space exploration, Spaceflight: A Smithsonian Guide (1995) and Where Next, Columbus? The Future of Space Exploration (1994). Her articles on shuttle history have appeared in History and Technology and Space Policy. She has been instrumental in the production of two Smithsonian Channel documentaries about the shuttle. Her current projects include completing a book about spaceflight in the shuttle era.

Before joining the Museum, Dr. Neal spent a decade as a writer, editor, and manager for some 25 NASA publications on shuttle and Spacelab missions, the Hubble Space Telescope and other great space observatories, the space sciences, and NASA history. She also participated in underwater astronaut-training activities and worked on the mission management support team for four shuttle missions.

She earned a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Minnesota, following an M.A. in American studies from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in English and history from Texas Christian University. She has taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Vanderbilt University.

Reviews

[Karen Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that this book exists. As a child, my heroes were the first group of women astronauts and I aspired to be one myself one day until I got slightly air sick on a small commuter flight. Figuring space flight was probably not for me, I became an aerospace engineer and spent a career in the AF and defense industry. I thought the book was a good collection of factual data and is a good remembrance of how far we’ve come as a society. I would have liked more personal stories from and about these groundbreaking individuals.

[Craig Beyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fills the need to identify, describe, and honor the women astronauts in the U.S. space program. I’m glad the author wrote this book as I learned, to my chagrin as someone who’s followed the space program before the Mercury program start, of many of the women astronauts I knew nothing about. Many of these women have accomplished incredible things throughout their lives, like many men, and I am in awe of their accomplishments. I only wish that the AIA could convince (or afford) one or more of these astronauts to spend the day at the American Rocketry Challenge (see www.rocketcontest.org) with the young men and women involved in that STEM event.

[nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So cool, I did have to skim the bios a little bit so I could finish this is time. Girl power 🦸‍♀️