Janet Christine Dietrich (1926 – June 5, 2008) was an American pilot and one of the Mercury 13 who underwent the same NASA testing in the early 1960s as the Mercury 7 astronauts. Early life Born in San Francisco in 1926, Janet Dietrich (better known as Jan) was the daughter of Richard Dietrich, who worked in the import business, and his wife, Marion. Dietrich began flying at an early age, getting a student pilot certificate at age 16. Jan and her identical twin sister Marion were the only girls in an aviation class at Burlingame High School. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Dietrich was president of the UC Flying Club and trained at Oakland International Airport, where she earned her Private pilot licence in 1946. In 1947, Janet Dietrich and her sister Marion entered the inaugural Chico-to-San Mateo Air Race and took first place, defeating experienced men. After placing in other local races, the flying twins collected the second-place trophy in the 1954 All-Women's Transcontinental Air Race, known as the Powder Puff Derby, flying a Stinson Voyager loaned to them by one of her student pilots, Donald Prell. Soon after graduating from Cal in 1949, Dietrich became chief pilot of Cessna. In her job, Dietrich delivered multi-engine aircraft from the factory in Wichita, conducted test flights for the shop, flew charters, and supervised the flight and ground schools. In 1953 she was the chief pilot of Santa Monica Flyers, a flight school in Santa Monica, California. In the late 1950s, Dietrich worked as the head of the Flight Department for Air Oasis Company at the Long Beach Airport, and she mentions having this position in her appearance on the January 31, 1957, episode of You Bet Your Life—indeed, she uses the secret word "head" in identifying her position, but Groucho Marx's assistants did not notice. Later, she was a federal pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration, performing pilot evaluations and issuing certificates. Woman in Space program In 1960, Dietrich and her sister were among a select group of female aviators invited to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, where experts had screened potential NASA astronauts. The women underwent the same medical tests and examinations as Alan Shepherd, John Glenn, and the other men who eventually traveled into space. The extensive exams included everything from swallowing 3 feet of rubber hose to drinking radioactive water. Though only 5 feet 3