1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Mercury 13 Congressional Gold Medal Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The Mercury 13 was a group of women who participated in the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs) Program, a privately funded project testing women pilots for astronaut fitness in the 1960s. (2) These women underwent the same psychological and physical testing that Dr. William Randolph Lovelace was simultaneously putting male pilots through to determine their candidacy for space travel as part of the NASA Mercury Project. (3) Members of the Mercury 13, though their training was not part of the NASA program, outperformed the Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for space travel in certain tests, and these women paved the way for other women in space. (4) None of the members of the Mercury 13 were ever able to go to space due to gender barriers, but they opened the door for female pilots and astronauts down the line. (5) Two of the women, Geraldyn Jerrie Cobb and Jane Janey Briggs Hart, spoke at a Congressional Hearing before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics to advocate for the continuation of their program, which led to an investigation into discrimination on the basis of sex two years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. (6) A motion to honor these women was included in the Congressional Record in 2007 during the 110th Congress. The resolution, H. Res. 421, honored the trailblazing accomplishments of the Mercury 13 and encouraged young women to follow in their footsteps and pursue careers in aviation, astronautics, engineering, and science. (7) The Mercury 13 are: (A) Myrtle K Cagle. (B) Geraldyn Jerrie Cobb. (C) Jan Dietrich. (D) Marion Dietrich. (E) Mary Wallace Wally Funk. (F) Jane Janey Briggs Hart. (G) Jean Hixson. (H) Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen. (I) Irene Leverton. (J) Sarah Lee Gorelick Ratley. (K) Bernice Trimble Steadman. (L) Geraldine Jerri Sloan Truhill. (M) Rhea Hurrle Allison Woltman. 3. Congressional Gold Medal (a) Presentation authorized