They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for generations of women to follow.What does it take to be an astronaut? Mastery at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, being in top shape - any checklist would certainly include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of thirteen women who not only proved that they were as tough as the toughest man, but were brave enough to challenge the government. Their passage to space was blocked by prejudice, by jealousy, by the scrawled note of one of the most powerful men in Washington. But, in the end, they did not lose, for their inspiring example empowered young women to take their rightful place in the sky, piloting jets and commanding space capsules that could bring human beings to distant planets. Almost Astronauts is the story of thirteen true pioneers of the space age.