Braving sexism, racism, and ableism, and with few support networks in a field dominated by men, many women trailblazers in space science didn’t realize how their discoveries and innovations were interconnected and often simultaneous. These ten nonfiction picture books centering women superstars in space science form a sisterhood of engineers, mathematicians, innovators, and scientists who will motivate young readers.
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer
by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Natasha Donovan
From math-loving kid to rocket designer, Mary Golda Ross broke many barriers as a Cherokee woman in male-dominated fields. Award-winning author and Cherokee Nation citizen Traci Sorell weaves how Cherokee values shaped Mary and her achievements.
During World War II, Mary solved fighter jet design problems. As the only female engineer at Skunk Works–a top-secret think tank–she vaulted space travel from dream to reality. Crafting rockets and penning NASA’s first Planetary Flight Handbook, Mary helped make Apollo’s moon missions possible.
Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician
by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by Raúl Colón
As Mary Golda Ross designed rockets, Katherine Johnson calculated spacecraft pathways. Astronaut John Glenn orbited Earth only after knowing that computer machine numbers matched Katherine’s hand calculations. Newbery Honor author Lesa Cline-Ransome incorporates the recurring questions, WHY? WHAT? HOW? to convey Katherine’s curiosity, calculations, and problem-solving. In the book’s final triumph, Katherine ponders how she’ll take astronauts beyond Earth’s atmosphere, foreshadowing her impact on Apollo’s moon missions.
The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of
by Kirsten W. Larson, illustrated by Katherine Roy
In lively language bursting with astronomical descriptors and childhood observations in nature, this powerful, dual narrative parallels the life of a star and star astronomer Cecilia Payne. Their stories collide, forming a single narrative when Cecilia “blazes with that lightning bolt of understanding.” In 1925, unlocking the secret of what stars are made of, Cecilia’s discovery at Harvard’s Observatory stunned astronomers, advancing the new science of astrophysics.
Rock Star: How Ursula Marvin Mapped Moon Rocks and Meteorites
by Sandra Neil Wallace, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
In the same observatory Cecilia calculated the composition of stars, Ursula Marvin changed planetary science. A giant in geology with a passion for exploring, Ursula examined lunar samples from every Apollo mission, making groundbreaking discoveries that re-shaped what scientists know about the moon. The first woman to search for meteorites in Antarctica, Ursula’s team uncovered the first known lunar meteorite. Meeting gender pushback by penning papers on her contributions to science, she soothed self-doubt by journaling and mining her imagination, pretending to be a snowmobile racer riding her beloved machine, Blue Ice.
Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark
by Allen R. Wells, illustrated by DeAndra Hodge
While Ursula Marvin waited on Earth to examine lunar samples astronaut Neil Armstrong collected, the rock box carrying the extra-terrestrial cargo was designed by mechanical engineer Yvonne Clark. Author and engineer Allen R. Wells portrays his former college professor as having the superpower to build and fix things—from her family’s broken toaster as a child, to NASA rockets. In this upbeat biography, Clark discovers what caused Apollo 4’s Saturn V engines to overheat, leading to a successful 1967 test launch and triumphant conclusion to the book.
Women on a Mission: The Remarkable Heroes Who Put Men on the Moon
by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Molly Magnell
Mechanical engineer and author Suzanne Slade centers a diverse group of twelve women trailblazers in space science who “engineered, welded, calculated, stitched, and plotted” to help launch NASA’s 1969 Apollo 11 mission. Young readers may know about mathematician Katherine Johnson or aerospace engineer Mary Golda Ross. Most of the women highlighted who helped Apollo accomplish the first moon landing will likely be unfamiliar, making this an ideal introduction to more female “hidden figures” of NASA’s Team Apollo.
The High-Flying, Deep-Diving Adventures of Kathy Sullivan: Astronaut and Oceanographer
by Diane Stanley, illustrated by Jessie Hartland
Stories about women who’d made the Apollo mission possible weren’t yet told when teenager Kathryn (Kathy) Sullivan watched Neil Armstrong moonwalk. Yearning to explore space, too, Kathy learned women weren’t allowed to be NASA astronauts. This popular author/illustrator duo focus primarily on Kathy’s space career, when she did become one of NASA’s first female astronauts in1978. Simulating space flight in water—the geologist/oceanographer’s favorite place besides space—Kathy became the first American woman to spacewalk, refueling an orbiting satellite in 1983.
Ellen Takes Flight: The Life of Astronaut Ellen Ochoa
by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
Ten years after Kathy Sullivan’s spacewalk, Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina in space, operating a robotic arm to move satellites. A lifelong learner, the physicist/engineer played the flute in her university orchestra. Acknowledging the women trailblazers before her by unfurling a suffragist banner in space, what makes this biography unique are details of the ways Ellen amplified the struggles and achievements of other women and how she navigated parenting while guiding the International Space Station and heading NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
How to Hear the Universe: Gaby González and the Search for Einstein’s Ripples in Space-Time
by Patricia Valdez, illustrated by Sara Palacios
Scientist and author Patricia Valdez connects Albert Einstein’s theory that collisions in the universe cause sound waves in space, to Latina physicist Gabriela (Gaby) González. Determined to prove Einstein’s theory, Gaby listened to giant sound wave machines, identifying known background noises. Then, one hundred years after Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Gaby detected a gravitational wave. Caused by black holes colliding a billion years ago, the chirp, recorded in 2015, changed space history.
Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe
by Amy S. Hansen, Wanda Díaz Merced, illustrated by Rocio Arreola Mendoza
World-renowned Puerto Rican astrophysicist Wanda Díaz Merced also used sound to study stars and black holes. Losing her eyesight from diabetes while at university, Wanda turned to sonification to map radio waves in space by hearing what she couldn’t see. Making discoveries at the same observatory that Cecilia Payne and Ursula Marvin had, Wanda—who co-authors her story—journeys farther, advocating for inclusivity and equal access in science and declaring this hard-earned truth: “Science is for everyone.”
Sandra Neil Wallace is a former ESPN reporter and the first woman to host an NHL broadcast on national TV. She writes about trailblazers and is the author of BETWEEN THE LINES: HOW ERNIE BARNES WENT FROM THE FOOTBALL FIELD TO THE ART GALLERY, illustrated by Bryan Collier, which won the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction, and MARJORY SAVES THE EVERGLADES, a CBC/NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon. Sandra’s newest title is the star reviewed ROCK STAR: HOW URSULA MARVIN MAPPED MOON ROCKS AND METEORITES, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Simon & Schuster, A Paula Wiseman Book, OCT 14, 2025). Visit Sandra online at SandraNeilWallace.com.