Jerrie Cobb, one of the Mercury 13, poses next to a mockup Mercury capsule. Cobb, along with the other members, underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts.
Image: jstor.org.

On this date in 1961, the members of the “Mercury 13” Astronaut Training Group were selected. Arranged by Dr. Randolph Lovelace, this group of 13 women were refused by NASA on the grounds that astronauts had to be qualified test pilots (all of whom were males). A well-researched independent article about the Mercury 13 may be found at Space.com’s page here.