Lily Koppel, author of “The Red Leather Diaries,” about finding a diary in a steam trunk in a dumpster and tracking down the elderly woman who wrote it, was looking for a new topic to write about when she saw a coffee table book about the Apollo astronauts.

She wondered about the wives of the astronauts and why there was no book, like Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff,” that told their story. So she began to research and meet with the women who comprised “The Astronaut Wives Club,” the title of her book.

Calling them the original TV reality stars, well before the Kardashians, Koppel describes how news crews camped out on their lawns, following them to the beauty parlor and grocery store, peeking over their backyard fences, even accosting neighborhood deliverymen to get any information on these families.

Writing this book was a daunting undertaking, as Koppel concentrated on four groups — the Mercury Seven, the Gemini Nine, the Fourteen (comprised of astronauts from Gemini and Apollo missions) and the Nineteen, chosen in 1966 — in all, there were 30 women in what became known as "The Astronaut Wives Club."

That seems to be the weakest part of the book, the fact that there are essentially 30 stories here — too many to keep straight at times. Koppel wisely concentrates much of the book on the women whose stories and personalities seem to stand out.

The wives of the Mercury Seven, the original astronauts, get much of the attention. They were the pioneers, as much as their husbands were. They were used to quiet lives as military pilots’ wives, moving from base to base, not seeing their husbands very much, and not having much money.

When their husbands were named as astronauts, the wives saw their husbands even less, but now they had the bright glare of news cameras in their faces, and they had more money.


They were treated like rock stars, given new cars for just a $1, brand new homes were built for them in a Houston suburb, dresses from Neiman-Marcus were provided to them to attend all of the fancy balls in style, and Life magazine paid them $500,000 to cover their lives.

Some of the women's stories stand out. Rene Carpenter, wife of Scott Carpenter, was a pretty, outspoken woman. When Life magazine wanted to photograph the wives standing around the space capsule, the women were told to wear pastel-colored shirtwaist dresses. Rene showed up in a yellow dress with bright red roses on it, and clearly stands out in the photograph.

Annie Glenn, John Glenn’s wife, had a strong faith that carried her through. She had a terrible stutter and was frightened to have to speak to the press, and the other wives did their best to protect her. While Annie did not partake in much of the drinking and parties, she was a woman the others looked up to and respected, and the Glenns had one of the strongest marriages of the group.

We see the tension as the men jockey to be the first man in space, the first to orbit the earth and the first to walk on the moon. Koppel drops us right into the living rooms of these women as they wait in a strange, tension-filled party atmosphere with their children, the other wives, and the embedded Life magazine reporter and photographer, for their husbands to complete their mission and return safely to Earth.

As we know, some of these men died during their missions. Koppel’s book is strongest in her storytelling here, when we see how these women dealt with their grief at losing their husbands, and how it affected the other wives. It is heartbreaking, and watching the women try to help each other is moving.

The life of an astronaut’s wife was not easy. Many of these women put their husbands through college, working so that their husbands could study. Some of them met their husbands on military bases, and most of them were in the workforce before marrying and having children. They were true partners to their husbands.

“The Astronauts Wives Club” is a fascinating look at these interesting pioneer women, and this is a book that I would highly recommend, especially to anyone who fondly remembers this incredible time in our nation’s history.