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Women on a Mission

The Remarkable Heroes Who Put Men on the Moon

Author Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by Molly Magnell
Ebook
Charlesbridge
On sale Oct 28, 2025 | 48 Pages | 9781632893673
Grades 1-4
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Neil couldn't have walked on the moon without Josephine, Dee, and Katherine. An inspiring introduction to the "hidden figures" of NASA’s Team Apollo!

Mechanical engineer Suzanne Slade highlights 12 female pioneers of STEM in this encouraging nonfiction picture book, perfect for 6-to-9-year-old aspiring engineers and astronauts!

This is the story of our daring quest to visit the moon, featuring twelve talented women who helped get us there. These women performed a variety of daunting jobs to accomplish the first moon landing. Some of their impressive accomplishments include:

  • How Phyllis Gaylard helped design the descent engine that allowed for a gentle landing on the lunar surface.
  • Hazel Fellows’ creation of the spacesuits that shielded the astronauts on the moon.
  • And Katherine Johnson’s verification of the flight calculations that let them return home safely.

Playful, retro-style illustrations pay homage to the 60s era.

Despite sexism and racism, these "hidden figures" persisted, contributing to the space program and paving the way for future women engineers and astronauts. Women on a Mission will surely astound and inspire young readers.
Suzanne Slade is a mechanical engineer who worked on Delta and Titan rockets for NASA. She has written more than 180 children's books, including Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon and Mars Is: Stark Slopes, Silvery Snow, and Startling Surprises. She also writes stories about inspiring women in STEM, such as Shining Star: Vera Rubin Discovers Dark Matter and A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon. Suzanne and her family split their time between Illinois and New Hampshire.

Molly Magnell is a designer and illustrator who has worked with NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Scientific American, Caltech, and others. She has a special interest in breaking down complicated ideas (like quantum physics!) into something "more bite-sized" for everyday humans. She also enjoys drawing powerful women because she believes "it's essential for people to see examples of women achieving great things." When Molly isn't drawing, she can be found petting stray cats in Brooklyn, NY.
www.mollymagnell.com
Suzanne Slade View titles by Suzanne Slade
Molly Magnell View titles by Molly Magnell

Educator Guide for Women on a Mission

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

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Salutes to 12 women who made significant contributions to the Apollo program.
Black “human computer” Katherine Johnson is likely to be the only name on this roster familiar even to well-read young students of the early space program. But after interviewing surviving subjects or their families and delving into oral histories and published accounts, Slade has provided readers with 11 more women who were active members of Team Apollo, including thermochemist and rocket fuel expert Reatha Clark King; aerospace engineer Mary Golda Ross, co-author of NASA’s planetary flight handbook and member of the Cherokee Nation; and Yvonne Young Clark, who earned a degree from Howard University in mechanical engineering and went on to design the “rock box” astronauts used to collect lunar samples. Along with capsule accounts of their lives and specific achievements, the entries include a variety of photos, peppy direct quotes, and Magnell’s painted views of the subjects at work in labs, offices, and control rooms. The author concludes with a shoutout to Sally Ride and the rest of the first class of women astronauts. As she notes, these lesser-known figures, too, “are heroes whose stories need to be told!”
Totally justified, if tardy, tributes to women who also had the “right stuff” to take us to the moon.
—Kirkus Reviews

About

Neil couldn't have walked on the moon without Josephine, Dee, and Katherine. An inspiring introduction to the "hidden figures" of NASA’s Team Apollo!

Mechanical engineer Suzanne Slade highlights 12 female pioneers of STEM in this encouraging nonfiction picture book, perfect for 6-to-9-year-old aspiring engineers and astronauts!

This is the story of our daring quest to visit the moon, featuring twelve talented women who helped get us there. These women performed a variety of daunting jobs to accomplish the first moon landing. Some of their impressive accomplishments include:

  • How Phyllis Gaylard helped design the descent engine that allowed for a gentle landing on the lunar surface.
  • Hazel Fellows’ creation of the spacesuits that shielded the astronauts on the moon.
  • And Katherine Johnson’s verification of the flight calculations that let them return home safely.

Playful, retro-style illustrations pay homage to the 60s era.

Despite sexism and racism, these "hidden figures" persisted, contributing to the space program and paving the way for future women engineers and astronauts. Women on a Mission will surely astound and inspire young readers.

Author

Suzanne Slade is a mechanical engineer who worked on Delta and Titan rockets for NASA. She has written more than 180 children's books, including Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon and Mars Is: Stark Slopes, Silvery Snow, and Startling Surprises. She also writes stories about inspiring women in STEM, such as Shining Star: Vera Rubin Discovers Dark Matter and A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon. Suzanne and her family split their time between Illinois and New Hampshire.

Molly Magnell is a designer and illustrator who has worked with NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Scientific American, Caltech, and others. She has a special interest in breaking down complicated ideas (like quantum physics!) into something "more bite-sized" for everyday humans. She also enjoys drawing powerful women because she believes "it's essential for people to see examples of women achieving great things." When Molly isn't drawing, she can be found petting stray cats in Brooklyn, NY.
www.mollymagnell.com
Suzanne Slade View titles by Suzanne Slade
Molly Magnell View titles by Molly Magnell

Guides

Educator Guide for Women on a Mission

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

Read More

Praise

Salutes to 12 women who made significant contributions to the Apollo program.
Black “human computer” Katherine Johnson is likely to be the only name on this roster familiar even to well-read young students of the early space program. But after interviewing surviving subjects or their families and delving into oral histories and published accounts, Slade has provided readers with 11 more women who were active members of Team Apollo, including thermochemist and rocket fuel expert Reatha Clark King; aerospace engineer Mary Golda Ross, co-author of NASA’s planetary flight handbook and member of the Cherokee Nation; and Yvonne Young Clark, who earned a degree from Howard University in mechanical engineering and went on to design the “rock box” astronauts used to collect lunar samples. Along with capsule accounts of their lives and specific achievements, the entries include a variety of photos, peppy direct quotes, and Magnell’s painted views of the subjects at work in labs, offices, and control rooms. The author concludes with a shoutout to Sally Ride and the rest of the first class of women astronauts. As she notes, these lesser-known figures, too, “are heroes whose stories need to be told!”
Totally justified, if tardy, tributes to women who also had the “right stuff” to take us to the moon.
—Kirkus Reviews

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