 Hey everyone, Amy here, and today on The Vintage Space, we're going to be looking very briefly at Miss Jacqueline Cochrane. There are two women on the cover of my new book, Fighting for Space. The one on top is Jackie Cochrane, and she has to be the most incredible figure I have ever researched, and I cannot wait to tell you guys about her. So let's start with how Jackie fits into this story of the women fighting for their chance in space in the 1960s. I won't give away any spoilers of anything that happens in the book. I really don't want to do that, but because history is known, I will say that there was a House committee hearing on the role of women in space in 1962, and amazingly, Jackie, a woman, testified against women flying in space. As such, she's usually portrayed as the standard villain in the story, but when you start digging into where she came from and how she ended up there, you realize that she's so complex and multi-faceted. She's really an incredible character and someone that cannot be pigeonholed into a single role. Jackie was born in Florida in 1906, and I'm gonna hold off saying anything else about her childhood because I want to save that for a separate video after the book is out. Jackie learned to fly as an adult in the early 1930s. This was a time where pilots were instant heroes because flying was so daring. Thousands upon thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people would follow along with air races happening across the country or around the world. And Jackie was right up in that circuit. It took her a few years, but by the end of the 1930s, she'd won multiple awards and trophies and was recognized as one of the leading people in aviation, not women, people. She parlayed her newfound fame as well as her incredible skill into leading the women's auxiliary service pilots in the second world. In the years after the war, Jackie continued to break all kinds of records. She most notably was the first woman to fly through the sound barrier in 1953 with her good friend Chuck Yeager on her way. All through the 1960s, nearing senior citizen age, she continued to break records. On one flight from the United States of Germany, she broke 19 records in one go. Jackie, therefore, occupied a very unique space in the history of women in aviation, but also in the history of aviation turning into spaceflight. She had a very unique perspective, too, because of how much she'd been through to get not only her own programs off the ground, but to help other women do things during the war. She also had a very unique perspective, not only because of the programs she helped get off the ground, but because of how much work she'd done to get her own records flown. So when we talk about Jackie in the context of women wanting to fly in space in the 1960s, her background really does matter. And that's what becomes really important as we dive into that facet in my new book. But the most incredible thing about Jackie is she wasn't just a pilot. While she was winning all kinds of awards, left, right, and center, and traveling all over the world, she also ran a luxury cosmetics line. Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics was on par with Elizabeth Arden in all the high-end department stores around the country. And because her makeup line was tangible, a lot of the pieces still exist, like this compact that I tracked down on eBay, whose mirror is still beautifully intact. Jackie overlapped with and worked with some of the most notable people of her era, including actor Kerry Grant, Marilyn Monroe, President Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and the list just goes on and on and on. And also, by the way, includes Walt and Roy Disney. Jackie was involved in so many things and knew so many people, and I've collected so much ephemera of her, from luggage to books that she owned, letters that she wrote, and a whole lot more of the makeup stuff. We're gonna be digging into all of that down the line because so much of it is so interesting. And if you think cosmetics and flying have nothing in common, well, Jackie's gonna prove you wrong. Even with everything that didn't make it in the book about Jackie, there's so much in here about her that's so fun and fabulous I cannot wait to share it with you guys. The book is available for pre-order now and will be on shelves everywhere in the United States and Canada on February 18th. All the links you need are in the description below. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for all kinds of updates about space every single day, as well as updates about book signings and upcoming events. And of course, subscribe right here so you never miss a future episode. Thank you guys so much for watching.