Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (/dʒəˈnɛt pɪˈkɑːr/ jə-NET pih-KAR; January 5, 1895 – May 17, 1981) was an American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life an Episcopal priest.

When asked by Bishop John Allin, the head of the church, not to proceed with the ceremony, she is said to have told him, "Sonny, I'm old enough to have changed your nappies.

"[3] In September 1976, the church voted to allow women into the priesthood, and Piccard served as a priest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, until she died at the age of 86.

[7] Piccard studied philosophy and psychology at Bryn Mawr College, where in 1916 she wrote an essay titled "Should Women Be Admitted to the Priesthood of the Anglican Church?

In 1926 they returned to the United States, where Jean Piccard taught organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[11] The couple lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania before settling in Minneapolis in 1936 when Jean Piccard joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota.

"[10] David DeVorkin, curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, wrote a history of manned scientific ballooning.

[12] In DeVorkin's view, the Piccards' "entrepreneurship and subsequent success" in ballooning was due to "their enormous persistence ... and considerable confidence, pluck, and luck".

DeVorkin wrote that, "Energetic and forceful, she seemed to have a better chance of obtaining a pilot's license than Jean, who was preoccupied with restoring the gondola and balloon and convincing scientists to provide instruments to fly".

[15] Henry Ford offered the use of his hangar and brought Orville Wright (with his brother Wilbur, inventor of the airplane and first human to fly a heavier-than-air powered aircraft)[16] to observe a flight of Jeannette's in 1933.

[nb 2] Her son Don was a crew member that day and shook hands with Wright, "I was a little kid and he [paid] attention to me.

[18] Later that year, the National Aeronautic Association made her the first woman licensed balloon pilot in the U.S.[5][19] Auguste wrote to Jean in June 1934, "Hopefully you will make your flight ahead of other competitors.

[1] She also raised a good deal of money by selling their story in press releases to the North American Newspaper Alliance.

After a brief pre-launch ceremony, during which the Piccards received a bouquet from their sons and a small band played The Star-Spangled Banner, they lifted off from Ford Airport, assisted by airmen on the ground who pushed the gondola.

[1] Jeannette made "unplanned and impulsive maneuvres" and the Piccards failed to make complete records of their actions during the flight.

"[26] Her flight set the women's altitude record, and held it for 29 years, until Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 became the first woman in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times solo in the Soviet Union's Vostok 6.

[34] In December 1934, Jeannette wrote to Swann to ask if Jean might become a member of the chemistry staff of the Bartol Research Foundation at the Franklin Institute, and also offered her services, but was turned down.

[8] In 1946 until mid-1947, the Piccards were consultants to General Mills (the cereal company and dominant industry in Minneapolis) working under Otto Winzen, who Jean had met through the university.

[36] Featured in Navy press releases, Jean was named a project scientist responsible for gondola design and for testing the balloon film materials.

But he balked, both at making weekly status reports that made him feel like a lower-level employee, and at the prospect of General Mills owning the patents to his ideas.

Working as a consultant, Jeannette threatened to break off ties with the Navy and General Mills unless she was allowed to fly with Jean.

[39] DeVorkin quoted a newspaper in 1952, "to Adventurer Piccard, no gondola probing the unexplored purple twilight of the stratosphere would be complete without him and his wife in it".

[43] In Philadelphia, at the Church of the Advocate, three retired bishops – Daniel Corrigan, former church head of domestic missions, Robert L. De Witt of the diocese of Pennsylvania, and Edward Randolph Welles II of the diocese of West Missouri – ordained eleven women priests, cheered by a large congregation.

[45] A proposal to recognize women priests had been narrowly defeated at the triennial general convention of 1973 held in Louisville, Kentucky.

Kathryn Piccard, her granddaughter, who also became an Episcopal priest, was later quoted in The New York Times as saying, "She wanted to expand the idea of what a respectable lady could do.

[54] The University of Minnesota Alumni Association gave her an Outstanding Achievement Award in 1968 and engraved her name on their wall of honor.

[55] Graduate Women in Science, also known as Sigma Delta Epsilon, made her an honorary member "For Excellence In Scientific Research" in 1971.