 thumb|the mercury seven in 1960. back row: shepard, grissom, cooper; front row: schirra, slayton, glenn, carpenter. this was the only time they would appear together in pressure suits. slayton and glenn are wearing spray-painted work boots. thumb|(l to r) cooper, schirra (partially obscured), shepard, grissom, glenn, slayton, and carpenter thumb|the mercury 7 astronauts examine their 'couches.' each astronaut's couch was molded to fit his body to help withstand the g-loads of the launch.  the mercury seven were the group of seven mercury astronauts selected by nasa on april 9, 1959. they are also referred to as the original seven or astronaut group&nbsp;1. they piloted the manned spaceflights of the mercury program from may 1961 to may 1963. these seven original american astronauts were alan shepard, gus grissom, john glenn, scott carpenter, wally schirra, gordon cooper, and deke slayton. members of the group flew on all classes of nasa manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th centuryâmercury, gemini, apollo, and the space shuttle. of the seven, only john glenn, who was the oldest, is still living; he went on to become a u.s. senator. gus grissom died in 1967, in the apollo 1 fire. the others all survived past retirement from service. == selection process == although nasa planned an open competition for its first astronauts, president dwight d. eisenhower insisted that all candidates be test pilots. because of the small space inside the mercury spacecraft, candidates could be no taller than 5 feet 11&nbsp;inches (180&nbsp;cm) and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82&nbsp;kg). other requirements included an age under 40, a bachelor's degree or equivalent, 1,500 hours of flying time, and qualification to fly jets.logsdon, john m. with roger d. launius (editors) exploring the unknown: selected documents in the history of the u.s. civil space program / volume vii human spaceflight: projects mercury, gemini, and apollo the nasa history series, 2008. after an advertisement among military test pilots drew more than 50
American_astronauts Lists_of_astronauts Mercury_Seven NASA_Astronaut_Corps NASA_astronauts Project_Mercury