In 1962, Linda Halpern completed a grade-school assignment to write a letter by sending an inquiry to President John F. Kennedy asking what she would have to do to be an astronaut. Join space history curator Margaret Weitekamp as she talks about the real research done in the early 1960s into whether women could be astronauts and why the US did not actually recruit female astronauts until the late 1970s.

Meet at the Museum "Great Seal", in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall on the first floor.

About the Ask an Expert lecture series: Every Wednesday at noon in the National Mall Building, a Museum staff member talks to the public about the history, collection, or personalities related to a specific artifact or exhibition in the Museum.