CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A museum on Clevelands lakefront honors women who have reached the heights and aimed for the stars.

And it doesnt have anything to do with rock n roll.

These stories have a ripple effect for young women, said Sara Fisher, executive director of the International Womens Air and Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport. They hear these stories and think, If this strong woman can do it, I can do it.

The museum, founded in 1998, is the only one of its kind in the world, Fisher said. It recognizes the full range of womens contributions to aviation, from pioneering pilots and astronauts to engineers, astronomers and physicists.

There are more than 20,000 items in its collection, including photographs, clothing, letters and even full-size aircraft and flight simulators. The museum holds over 6,000 biographies of women, highlighting accomplishments that dont make it into most textbooks.

The museum will host a Zoom program at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day -- on Women in the Armed Forces: World War II and Beyond, in conjunction with the Liverpool, N.Y., Library. Fisher will discuss the obstacles encountered and the accomplishments of women aviators over the last 75 years.

More than Amelia

There is more to the history of women in flight than Amelia Earhart, the museum illustrates in its virtual exhibit Defying the Odds, launched online in June.

Everyone knows the names of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the first men to fly. But few are aware of the contributions of their sister, Katherine, who supported them during their experiments and was one of the first airplane passengers. She also found time to agitate for the vote for women.

Fisher said one of the most heartbreaking episodes of historic amnesia is the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to earn a pilots license. Because of the prevailing racial bias of the time in the United States, she had to travel to France to train, learning the language before she left.

The air is the only place free from prejudice, Coleman said.

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman to earn a pilot's license, but had to travel to France to train and be tested. She died in a plane crash in 1926, but inspired generations of future flyers. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

She became a barnstormer in the 1920s, and was tragically killed in a plane crash in Florida in 1926. Her accomplishments inspired generations of African-Americans to follow her lead.

Women faced many barriers to flying, but refused to be grounded. Barred from competing with men, they launched the first Intercontinental Womens Air Derby in 1926, a 2,759-mile race from California to Cleveland that included Earhart.

Accounts of their feats were condescending. Emma Todd, who designed airplanes, was described by the New York Times as a little woman who has invented and built one of the handsomest aeroplanes in existence.

The museum recognizes the feats of women from around the globe, from China to Argentina to Egypt, and even those with disabilities, such as the first deaf pilot.

Flying for freedom

There was a desperate need for pilots during World War II, and women answered the call. Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, was founded in 1942 by Jacqueline Cochran, who would go on to be the first woman to break the sound barrier.

These women tested and ferried aircraft and trained pilots, freeing up men for combat missions. Around 1,100 women participated in this volunteer effort; 38 were killed.

The outfit was disbanded in 1944, with Gen. Hap Arnold acknowledging that the women had fulfilled their mission and in many cases equaled or surpassed the abilities of men.

However, the women flyers werent granted military status until 1977, and were belatedly issued the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

Into space

The Mercury 13 women, including future space traveler Wally Funk, underwent the same testing and training as the first group of men astronauts, but were denied the opportunity to fly in space. Funk finally went aloft in June, as the oldest person to fly in space. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

One of the major episodes examined by the museum is the experience of the Mercury 13 women astronaut trainees, a group that included Wally Funk, who last summer became the oldest person to fly in space.

Funded privately by Jackie Cochran, and under the supervision of NASA, the women undertook the same testing and training as their male counterparts, often exceeding them.

Funk was able to remain in a sensory deprivation tank for 10 hours, besting the four hours endured by John Glenn, who became the first astronaut to orbit the earth, Fisher pointed out.

The program was scrapped and the women never got the opportunity to fly in space, until Funk went up in the Blue Origin rocket at 82 -- five years older than Glenn when he made his second space flight in 1998.

It was more than 20 years after the first American flew in space, and 14 years after the first moon landing, that Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space, in 1983.

The museum recognizes the growing number of women who have flown in space, but they still represent a small percentage of astronauts. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

Barriers still exist. Of the 200 astronauts who have traveled to the International Space Station, only 39 so far have been women. Of the more than 500 humans who have flown in space, only about 11 percent have been women.

One of those was Catherine Coleman, who has served as a volunteer at the Cleveland museum. Sunita Williams (virtually) ran the Boston Marathon and completed a triathlon while aboard the space station.

The museum at Burke Lakefront displays a wall with the photos of all of these women, along with their biographies, and has had to post the expanding roster on another board.

Fisher said she enjoys seeing the faces of the girls and young women on school tours, as they realize what has been achieved and what they themselves can aspire to.

The men flyers have given out the impression that aeroplaning is very perilous work, something that an ordinary mortal should not dream of attempting, early aviator Harriet Quimby observed. But when I saw how easily the men flyers manipulated their machines, I said I could fly.

Admission to the International Womens Air & Space Museum, at 1501 N. Marginal Road, is free. Guided tours and lunch tours are available for a fee.

For information, including registration for the Women in the Armed Forces presentation, visit http://www.iwasm.org.

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International Womens Air & Space Museum celebrates women with the right stuff - cleveland.com