Today in History: April 9, 1959 – First U.S. Astronauts, called The Mercury Seven, are introduced. Today in History: April 9, 1959 – First U.S. Astronauts, called The Mercury Seven, are introduced. Posted on April 9, 2012 by Art On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America’s first astronauts to the press. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America’s first manned space program. Known as the Mercury Seven, they are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. This was the only astronaut group with members that flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century; Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. These seven original American astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton.

The Mercury Seven - Gordo Cooper, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton The Mercury Seven (March 1960) front row, left to right, Walter H. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. Gus Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper. In Their Footsteps: The Mercury 7 | NASA In Their Footsteps: The Mercury 7 December 19, 2005 As we stand on the threshold of new exploration of the moon, Mars and beyond, we are reminded of the first American space explorers who bravely paved the way: the original Mercury 7 astronauts. These adventurers, and a quiet spot on Florida's east coast, were destined to become the focus of the new Space Age. Image right: The first American manned space program was named Project Mercury. Image credit: NASA The first national manned space flight project, later named Project Mercury , was born on Oct. 7, 1958.

The program spanned nearly five years, with six manned missions making history between May 1961 and May 1963. In that short time, NASA achieved its goals for the project: Orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth Investigate man's ability to function in space Recover both man and spacecraft safely Image left: America's first astronauts: (front row) Walter M. Schirra Jr. , Donald K. "Deke" Slayton , John H. Glenn Jr. , Scott Carpenter , (back row) Alan B. Shepard Jr. , Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper . Image credit: NASA The American public first met the seven men chosen to be this country's first human space voyagers on April 9, 1959, at a press conference in Washington. The men were dubbed "astronauts." The term was a cross between "aeronauts," as ballooning pioneers were called, and "Argonauts," the legendary Greeks in search of the Golden Fleece. These new explorers were being prepared to sail into the new, uncharted vastness of space.

Take a look back at how they trained and launched from what was to become America's spaceport. Image right: The selected seven astronauts go through survival training in the Nevada desert. Each astronaut was left there for four days with a mockup of a Mercury spacecraft, a parachute and a survival scenario. Image credit: NASA Image left: The hard-packed sands of the Space Coast proved good for running, as Mercury astronaut John Glenn discovered. Image credit: NASA Image left: Inside his Freedom 7 capsule atop a Redstone rocket, Astronaut Alan Shepard undergoes a flight simulation test. Image credit: NASA Image right: Liftoff of the Mercury-Atlas rocket from Pad 14 at Cape Canaveral marked the first American manned orbital space flight carrying astronaut John Glenn. Image credit: NASA Image left: Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral not only was the nerve center for each launch, but also for the entire mission. Image credit: NASA Image right: Families of the Mercury 7, like the loved ones of Astronaut Scott Carpenter seen here welcoming him home, also found themselves in the spotlight.

Image credit: NASA Image left: Returning astronauts were welcomed by parades like this one for Astronaut Gordon Cooper at Patrick Air Force Base, just south of Cape Canaveral. Image credit: NASA Image right: After the last "splashdown" of the Mercury program, Astronaut Gordon Cooper is helped out of his spacecraft, Faith 7, aboard the recovery ship. Image credit: NASA Among the original Mercury 7 astronauts, only Deke Slayton didn't make a Mercury flight, but he did go on to fly in space as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crew. In all, three members of the Mercury 7 also flew in the Gemini program and three were part of Apollo missions, with Shepard setting foot on the moon. Image right: In 2002, Mercury 7 Astronauts (from left) Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter were among space pioneers honored during the 40th anniversary celebration of American space flight at the Kennedy Space Center. Image credit: NASA Glenn's return to space came 36 years after his first flight. He lifted off aboard space shuttle Discovery for mission STS-95 in 1998.

To this day, every manned mission launched by NASA - as well as frequent unmanned launches - have one thing in common: they have lifted off from that same point of land on Florida's east coast. The Mercury Seven mission astronauts left their wives depressed and isolated | World | News | Daily Express The Mercury Seven mission astronauts left their wives depressed and isolated THEY formed the most exclusive women’s club in the world. 00:01, Wed, Jun 5, 2013 The astronauts who flew into space and became global heroes While their husbands raced for the moon, the members of the Astronauts’ Wives’ Club were the most envied, idolised and scrutinised women in America. Coiffed and buffed they were the NASA space agency’s female ambassadors, picture-perfect wives waiting for their heroic husbands to return. But they secretly struggled to cope with isolation, divorce and depression, reveals a new book The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel, published in Britain tomorrow. “NASA wanted perfect wives, perfect children, perfect homes – there was certainly some pressure there,” said Apollo 8 wife Susan Borman, who struggled with alcoholism in the Sixties.

The daring exploits of their men have been told and retold – fearless astronauts risking their lives to go where no man had gone before. But the women who watched and waited as their men blasted into space, sometimes never to return, were forced to maintain a flawless facade despite their loneliness and fears. They were wined, dined and feted as domestic heroines, yet were hounded by a remorseless media frenzy, happily fed by NASA. TV crews and reporters crowded their lawns at every Apollo mission launch in the Sixties and Seventies, broadcasting the astronauts’ families’ reactions as they struggled to maintain their composure. “Some of them actually moved into the home so they could photograph us watching the launches on television,” says Borman. “We used to call it the death watch.” Their husbands were mostly workaholics, often absent as they trained intensely, leaving the wives to cope as de facto single mothers. They gathered regularly for coffee and sat nervously with the wife of whoever was on a launch. “We kind of filled in for each other when the men were away,” said Gracia Lousma, wife of Apollo astronaut Jack Lousma. But for many couples America’s space race was a bitter travesty tearing them apart.

“I became suicidal,” says Dotty Duke, wife of Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke, who was plagued by loneliness. “Charlie was a workaholic. The space programme was all he thought about. I knew he would never be able to show me the love I needed or make me a priority.” Only the Astronauts’ Wives’ Club kept her from taking her own life. The club was launched when America’s first astronauts, the Mercury Seven, were selected in 1959 for death-defying missions. John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton became instant superstars in the Cold War space race. Overnight their wives became American royalty. They had tea with First Lady Jackie Kennedy at the White House, appeared on the cover of Life magazine – sharing in a $500,000 publicity contract – and became fashion icons with their mini-dresses and beehive coiffures. The wives all envied Annie Glenn’s perfect marriage, while Rene Carpenter was reportedly President Kennedy’s favourite.

Koppel’s book follows the lives and wives of the astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions who “drank together, popped pills together, consoled each other,” says the author. “It was The Right Stuff meets Mad Men, with a little bit of Desperate Housewives thrown in.” But the astronauts’ celebrity carried a steep price for their wives. NASA’s elite were treated like rock stars, luring astro-groupies known as “Cape Cookies” in the no-wiveszone of Cape Canaveral, Florida, that several found hard to resist. Infidelity was rampant yet NASA demanded that families presented an image of blissful domesticity. “You weren’t going to get a space flight if your marriage wasn’t intact,” says Koppel. “And it had to be an exemplary marriage. Divorce wasn’t allowed.” The women felt increasingly isolated. “I used to go outside and just look at the moon,” said Faye Stafford, ex-wife of Apollo 10 astronaut Thomas Stafford. Founders of the Astronauts' Wives Charlie was a workaholic. The space programme was all he thought about.

I knew he would never be able to show me the love I needed or make me a priority Dotty, wife of Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke “It was hard for us wives to understand what the men were experiencing. And they were treated like royalty. It was hard for them to come home. What could ever compete with that? I was lucky if I could come second.” Yet their husbands often returned to Earth feeling the high-point of their lives was behind them. Some, like moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, fell into depression and alcoholism. But as the domestic pressure mounted, NASA thrust the wives into an often terrifying public arena, expected to attend social galas, charity events and fashion shows as the space agency’s dutiful role models for the American Dream. “None of us was prepared for the exposure,” said Faye Stafford. “I’m shy. I didn’t like the attention of those ‘casts of thousands dinners’. But you wanted to support your husband so you did it.” NASA offered little help. “Sometimes a protocol offi cer would summon us to give us advice such as, ‘Give your husband a good breakfast every day and make sure you keep him away from stress at home’,” said Apollo 8 wife Valerie Anders.

Adding to the stress, after the Gemini mission wives cashed in on the initial publicity, subsequent NASA wives were expected to shine in high society on military or government salaries, as astronauts were not exorbitantly paid. “They were sending us into Houston society,” said Stafford. “It was all hats and gloves. I don’t think they took into account that we were on government salaries and we really couldn’t afford it all.” Many of the women were military wives who had followed their husbands from one US Air Force base to another and arrived at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, without careers to occupy them. “Most of us were still homemakers,” said Stafford. “I would have liked to have had a career. Especially once the children left home. It was isolating.” Their husbands worked hard then partied harder. Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Shepard were dubbed the “Go-Go Crew,” driving matching gold Corvettes, wearing gold aviators and powder blue fl ying suits. Shepard attended “swinging” parties. Depressed wives furtively turned to tranquillisers.

Jane Conrad explained: “If you wanted an antidepressant you would not go to a NASA doctor; you would secretly go to a doctor in town.” The first astronaut divorce finally cracked the facade when Harriet Eisele left Apollo 7 astronaut Donn. “There had been a woman for years,” she confessed. “There had been lots.” With the floodgates now open, many more fled their husbands and the remorseless pressure . “It was like dominoes,” says Eisele of the NASA divorces. “There were so many, it was as if they were waiting.” The astronauts’ wives formed enduring bonds, many remaining friends to this day, long after their husbands had drifted apart. “It’s interesting to me that the women have remained closer than the men,” said Stafford.

“There was just so much intense competition between the men; I think it’s still difficult for them to handle that.” To order The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel (Headline) at £16.99 with free UK delivery, send a cheque or PO payable to Express Bookshop to Koppel Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ, order online via expressbookshop.com or call 01872 562310. Related articles The Astronauts: United States Project Mercury 1960 NASA; Mercury 7 Promotional Film - YouTube The Astronauts: United States Project Mercury 1960 NASA; Mercury 7 Promotional Film Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Aug 4, 2016 more at "United States Project Mercury, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

This film documents the selection of the original seven astronauts for Project Mercury: Lieutenant Malcolm S. (Scott) Carpenter, Captain Leroy G. (Gordon) Cooper, Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Captain Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, Lieutenant Commander Walter M. Schirra, Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard, and Captain Donald K. (Deke) Slayton. The footage shows the selection criteria and process, the astronauts in training, and the beginnings of our knowledge of manned space flight." NASA film HQ-9 Reupload of a previously uploaded film, in one piece instead of multiple parts, and with improved video & sound. Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

from "PROJECT MERCURY- THE ROLE OF THE ASTRONAUT IN PROJECT MERCURY SPACE FLIGHTS" The Mercury vehicle was designed to operate automatically in a limited flight regime in order to permit extensive unmanned testing prior to the incorporation of the astronaut in the system. This requirement for automatic function provided the basic design requirement about which the Mercury subsystems were developed. As a result, the major systems are primarily designed for automatic operation and the manual overrides are added on to this basic system in such a way as to promote a maximum of reliability. The integration of the astronaut in the Mercury system provides added reliability and flexibility of flight... When man is added, a number of redundant systems come into play. Retroattitude may now be achieved not only by the automatic control system, but also by one or more of three manual control systems using fly-bywire, rate command, or manual proportional control. Without man in the system, a single method for achieving a mission requirement existed, whereas with the insertion of the man into the system three new additional methods or a total of four partially or fully redundant systems are available... In selecting the Mercury Astronauts, a total of SO8 test pilot personnel records were reviewed. On the basis of the characteristics shown in Fig.

7, this number was reduced to 68. The final seven astronauts were selected - AGE-Less than 40 The Mercury Program - Overview September 12, 1962 CHAPTER TWO, "Exploring the Human Factor" (1948-1958) The development of the large liquid-fueled rocket made the dazzling prospect of manned flight beyond Earth's atmosphere and into the vacuum of space increasingly feasible from the standpoint of propulsion. By 1950, however, only instrumented sounding rockets, fired to ever higher altitudes in both the United States and the Soviet Union, had reached into space before falling earthward. Although a number of these experimental shots carried living organisms (everything from fungus spores to monkeys in the United States, mainly dogs in the U.S.S.R.) the data acquired from telemetry and from occasional recovery of rocket nose cones had not shown conclusively how long organisms could live in space, or indeed whether man could survive at all outside the protective confines of his atmosphere. Scientists still were hesitant to predict how a human being would behave under conditions to be encountered in space flight. Thus while space flight became technologically practicable, physiologically and psychologically it remained an enigma.

In the early 1950s an acceleration of efforts in upper-atmospheric and space medical research accompanied the quickened pace of rocket development in this country and in the Soviet Union. During the next few years medical specialists, profiting from substantial progress in telemetering clinical data, learned a great deal about what a man could expect when he went into the forbidding arena of space. Much of the confidence with which the engineers of Project Mercury in 1958 approached the job of putting a man into orbit and recovering him stemmed from the findings of hundreds of studies made in previous years on the human factors in space flight. Since the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was interested almost exclusively in the technology of flight, research in the medical problems of space flight, like aviation medicine in previous decades, was the province primarily of the military services and of some civilian research organizations receiving funds from the military. Of the three services, the United States Air Force, rich in background in aeromedical research and assuming that space medicine was but an extension of aviation medicine, undertook most of the early inquiry into the psycho-physiological problems of extra-atmospheric flight.

Astronaut Selection Now that men had been chosen to serve as the focal points for all this effort, new spirits animated the Space Task Group (STG). Indeed, the Nation as a whole began to participate vicariously in Project Mercury when, on April 9, 1959, at a press conference in Washington, Glennan (NASA ADMINISTRATOR) introduced to the public the seven men chosen to be this Nation's nominees for the first human voyagers into space. They were to be called "astronauts," as the pioneers of ballooning had been called "Argonauts," for they were to sail into a new, uncharted ocean. These personable pilots were introduced in civilian dress; many people in their audience forgot that they were volunteer test subjects and military officers. Their public comments did not class them with any elite intelligence. Rather they were a contingent of mature Americans, average in build and visage, family men all, college-educated as engineers, possessing excellent health, and professionally committed to flying advanced aircraft. Compared with the average, white, middle-class American male, they enjoyed better health, physically and psychologically, and they had far more experience among and above the clouds.

Slightly short of average in stature, they were above average in seriousness of purpose. Otherwise these seven seemed almost random samples of average American manhood. Yet the names of Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton were perhaps to become as familiar in American history as those of any actor, soldier, or athlete. Despite the wishes of NASA Headquarters, and particularly of Dryden, Silverstein, and Gilruth, the fame of the astronauts quickly grew beyond all proportion to their current activities and their preflight mission assignments. Perhaps it was inevitable that the "crew-pool" members of STG were destined for premature adulation, what with the enormous public curiosity about them, the risk they would take in space flight, and their exotic training activities. But the power of commercial competition for publicity and the pressure for political prestige in the space race also whetted an insatiable public appetite for this new kind of celebrity. Walter T. Bonney, long a public information officer for NACA and now Glennan's adviser on these matters, foresaw the public and press attention, asked for an enlarged staff, and laid the guidelines for public affairs policy in close accord with that of other Government agencies.

The astronauts were first and foremost test pilots, men accustomed to flying along in the newest, most advanced, and most powerful vehicles this civilization had produced. They were talented specialists who loved to fly high-performance aircraft and who had survived the natural selection process in their profession. The demand for excellence in piloting skills, in physical health, and psychological adaptability becomes ever more stringent as one ascends the ladder toward the elite among military aviators, those senior test pilots with upwards of 1500 hours' total flying time. Eisenhower's decision that the military services could provide the pilots greatly simplified the astronaut selection procedure. From a total of 508 service records screened in January 1959 by Stanley C. White, Robert B. Voas, and William S. Augerson at the military personnel bureaus in Washington, 110 men were found to meet the minimum standards specified earlier. This list of names included five Marines, 47 Navy men, and 58 Air Force pilots. Several Army pilots' records had been screened earlier, but none was a graduate of a test pilot school. The selection process began while the possibility of manned Redstone flights in late 1959 still existed on paper.

The evaluation committee at Headquarters, headed by the Assistant Director of STG, Charles J. Donlan, decided to divide the list of 110 arbitrarily into three groups and to issue invitations for the first group of 35 to come to Washington at the beginning of February for briefings and interviews. Donlan was pleased to learn from his staff, White, Voas, and Augerson, that 24 of the first group interviewed were happy with the prospects of participating in the Mercury program. Every one of the first 10 men interrogated on February 2 agreed to continue through the elimination process. The next week another group of possible pilot-candidates arrived in Washington. The high rate of volunteering made it unnecessary to extend the invitations to the third group. Justifying this action, George Low reported: During the briefings and interviews it became apparent that the final number of pilots should be smaller than the twelve originally planned for. The high rate of interest in the project indicates that few, if any, of the men will drop out during the training program. It would, therefore, not be fair to the men to carry along some who would not be able to participate in the flight program.

Consequently, a recommendation has been made to name only six finalists. Sixty-nine men had reported to Washington in two groups by the middle of February. Of these, six were found to have grown too tall. Fifty-six pilots took the initial battery of written tests, technical interviews, psychiatric interviews, and medical history reviews. Those who declined or were eliminated reduced the total at the beginning of March to 36 men. They were invited to undergo the extraordinary physical examinations planned for them at the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque. Thirty-two accepted and became candidates, knowing also that they were scheduled to pass through extreme mental and physical environmental tests at the Wright Air Development Center, in Dayton, Ohio, after being certified as physically qualified by the Lovelace Clinic. The 32 candidates were assured that the data derived from these special examinations in New Mexico and Ohio would not jeopardize their military careers, since none of the findings was to go into their service records.

Although the psycho physiological criteria for the selection of the best possible pilots for manned space flight had been under discussion for several years, the actual arrangement of the selection procedures for Mercury was directed by a NASA selection committee consisting of a senior management engineer, Donlan; a test pilot engineer, North; two flight surgeons, White and Augerson; two psychologists, Allen O. Gamble and Voas; and two psychiatrists, George E. Ruff and Edwin Z. Levy. These seven men had done the screening of records and the interviews and testing in Washington, constituting phases one and two of the selection program, before remanding their pool of 32 candidates to the medical examiners at the Lovelace Foundation. Individually each candidate arrived at Albuquerque to undergo approximately a week of medical evaluations under each of five different schedules. In this third phase of the program, over 30 different laboratory tests collected chemical, encephalographic, and cardiographic data. X-ray examinations thoroughly mapped each man's body. The ophthalmology section and the otolaryngology sections likewise learned almost everything about each candidate's eyes, and his ears, nose, and throat.

Special physiological examinations included bicycle ergometer tests, a total-body radiation count, total-body water determination, and the specific gravity of the whole body. Heart specialists made complete cartiological examinations, and other clinicians worked out more complete medical histories on these men than probably had ever before been attempted on human beings. Nevertheless the selectees were so healthy that only one of the 32 was found to have a medical problem potentially serious enough to eliminate him from the subsequent tests at the Wright Aeromedical Laboratory. Phase four of the selection program was an amazingly elaborate set of environmental studies, physical endurance tests, anthropometric measurements, and psychiatric studies conducted at the Aeromedical Laboratory of the Wright Air Development Center. During March each of the 31 subjects spent another week experiencing a wide range of stressful conditions.

Voas explained phases three and four: "While the purpose of the medical examinations at Lovelace Clinic had been to determine the general health status of the candidates, the purpose of the testing program at Wright Field was to determine the physical and psychological capability of the individual to respond effectively and appropriately to the various types of stresses associated with space missions." In addition to pressure suit tests, acceleration tests, vibration tests, heat tests, and loud noise tests, each candidate had to prove his physical endurance on treadmills, tilt tables, with his feet in ice water, and by blowing up balloons until exhausted. Continuous psychiatric interviews, the necessity of living with two psychologists throughout the week, and extensive self-examination through a battery of 13 psychological tests for personality and motivation, and another dozen different tests on intellectual functions and special aptitudes--these were all part of the week of truth at Dayton.

Two of the more interesting personality and motivation studies seemed like parlor games at first, until it became evident how profound an exercise in Socratic introspection was implied by conscientious answers to the test questions "Who am I?" and "Whom would you assign to the mission if you could not go yourself?" In the first case, by requiring the subject to write down 20 definitional identifications of himself, ranked in order of significance, and interpreted projectively, the psychologists elicited information on identity and perception of social roles. In the peer ratings, each candidate was asked which of the other members of the group of five accompanying him through this phase of the program he liked best, which one he would like to accompany him on a two-man mission, and whom he would substitute for himself. Candidates who had proceeded this far in the selection process all agreed with one who complained, "Nothing is sacred any more." Back at STG headquarters at Langley, late in March 1959, phase five began. The final evaluation of data was made by correlating clinical and statistical information from New Mexico and Ohio. Eighteen of the 31 candidates came recommended without medical reservations for final consideration by Donlan and North.

According to Donlan, although the physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and physiologists had done their best to establish gradations, the attrition rate was too low. So the final criteria for selecting the candidates reverted to the technical qualifications of the men and the technical requirements of the program, as judged by Donlan, North, White, and finally Gilruth. "We looked for real men and valuable experience," said Donlan. The selection tests, as it turned out, were largely tests of tests, "conducted as much for the research value in trying to formulate the characteristics of astronauts as for determining any deficiencies of the group being examined." The verbal responses at the interviews, before and after the psychophysiological testing, therefore, seem to have been as important final determinants as the candidates' test scores. Sitting in judgment over 18 finalists, Donlan, White, and North pared down the final pool of selectees, choosing each to complement the rest of the group. The going was so difficult that they could not reach the magic number six, so Gilruth decided to recommend seven. Donlan then telephoned each of the seven individually to ask whether he was still willing to accept a position as a Mercury astronaut.

Each one gladly volunteered again. The 24 who were passed over were notified and asked to reapply for reconsideration in some future program. Gilruth's endorsement of the final list was passed upward to Silverstein and Glennan for final review, and by mid-April the faces of America's original seven spacemen were shown to the world. As the astronauts lost their private lives, Project Mercury found its first great public notice. An eighth military officer and pilot came aboard STG about the same time to manage the public information and press relations that were already threatening to intrude on the time and talent of STG. The eighth personality was an experienced Air Force pilot who had flown extensively in World War II, on the Berlin Airlift, and in Korea, and who also had proven himself as a public information officer after 1954, when he was charged with ameliorating public fears and complaints over jet noises, sonic booms, and the ballistic missile programs. Lieutenant Colonel John A. Powers, USAF, came on board the STG staff in early April 1959.

Thereafter the mellifluous voice and impish grin of "Shorty" Powers made his reputation as the primary buffer for STG in its relations with the press and the public. Throughout the Mercury program, he stood before the news media and the people of the world as the one living symbol of all the anonymous human effort behind the astronaut of the moment. Powers propagated some oversimplified images in many instances, as it was his job to do, but no one man then or now could completely understand or communicate the complexity of the myriad research, development, and operations activities that lay behind a launch. Then, too, the caliber of the questions determined the quality of his answers, and all too often the questions asked were simple. What was an astronaut really like? What did he eat for breakfast? Which ones had been Boy Scouts? How did their wives take their commitment? Such questions provoked many to abandon asking how these seven came to be chosen and for what purpose they were entering training. From the United States Marine Corps, Lieutenant Colonel John Herschel Glenn, Jr., received orders to report to the Space Task Group at Langley Field, on the first of May. He then found himself the senior astropilot in age and date of rank.

From the Navy, Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., and Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., both lieutenant commanders, and Lieutenant Malcolm Scott Carpenter reported aboard STG. And the Air Force assigned three captains, Donald Kent Slayton, Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Virgil I. Grissom, to duty with NASA as test pilots, alias Mercury astronauts. On May 28, 1959, the astronauts were brought before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in executive session. They were asked to reassure the Congressmen that they were content with the orderliness, safety, and seriousness of Project Mercury. This they did vigorously, together and separately, before Schirra mentioned the "seven-sided coin" of competition over which one should get the first flight. The first seven American astronauts were an admirable group of individuals chosen to sit at the apex of a pyramid of human effort. In training to transcend gravity they became a team of personalities as well as a crew of pilots. They were lionized by laymen and adored by youth as heroes before their courage was truly tested.

In volunteering to entrust their lives to Mercury's spirit and Atlas' strength to blaze a trail for man into the empyrean, they chose to lead by following the opportunity that chance, circumstance, technology, and history had prepared for them. Influential 20th-century philosophers as diverse as Bertrand Russell, Teilhard de Chardin, and Walter Kaufmann tell us that man's profoundest aspiration is to know himself and his universe and that life's deepest passion is a desire to become godlike. All men must balance their hubris with their humility, but, as one of those aspiring astronauts said, "How could anyone turn down a chance to be a part of something like this?" Shortly after the astronauts were introduced to the public, a literate layman asked directions of Mercury for mankind in general: Which way will heaven be then? Up? Down? Across? Or far within? Summary The United States' first manned space flight project was successfully accomplished in a 4 2/3 year period of dynamic activity which saw more than 2,000,000 people from many major government agencies and much of the aerospace industry combine their skills, initiative, and experience into a national effort.

In this period, six manned space flights were accomplished as part of a 25-flight program. These manned space flights were accomplished with complete pilot safety and without change to the basic Mercury concepts. It was shown that man can function ably as a pilot-engineer-experimenter without undesirable reactions or deteriorations of normal body functions for periods up to 34 hours of weightless flight. Directing this large and fast moving project required the development of a management structure and operating mode that satisfied the requirement to mold the many different entities into a workable structure. The management methods and techniques so developed are discussed. Other facets of the Mercury experience such as techniques and philosophies developed to insure well-trained flight and ground crews and correctly prepared space vehicles are discussed. Also, those technical areas of general application to aerospace activities that presented obstacles to the accomplishment of the project are briefly discussed. Emphasis is placed on the need for improved detail design guidelines and philosophy, complete and appropriate hardware qualification programs, more rigorous standards, accurate and detailed test procedures, and more responsive configuration control techniques. 1.

These are excerpts from a NASA book entitled, NASA SP-45, "Mercury Project Summary, Including Results of the Fourth Manned Orbital Flight, May 15 and 16, 1963. The publication date is October 1963. 2. Also, the Previous are excerpts from "This New Ocean, A History of Project Mercury," NASA SP-4201, by Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, and Charles C. Alexander. This book was printed in 1966, and it was for sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number is 66-62424.) Project Review By Walter C. Williams, Deputy Director for Mission Requirements and Flight Operations, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center; Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, Manager, Mercury Project, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center; William M. Bland, Jr., Deputy Manager, Mercury Project, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center; and James E. Bost, Chief, Engineering Operations Office, Mercury Project Office, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center.

NASA names 1st 7 astronauts, April 9, 1959 | EDN NASA names 1st 7 astronauts, April 9, 1959 NASA announced the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts on April 9, 1959. The group was quickly dubbed the "Mercury Seven," as the men were chosen for Project Mercury. NASA made the announcement just six months after being formally established . NASA had planned an open competition for its first astronauts, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a World War II hero, insisted that all candidates be test pilots, which excluded women. Height and weight restrictions of 5 feet, 11 inches and 180 pounds were imposed on all candidates because of limited space in the Mercury spacecraft. Other requirements specified a candidate must be 40 years old or younger, hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent, and have logged 1,500 hours or more of flying time. More than 500 men applied. NASA reviewed military personnel records in January 1959 for 110 of the pilot applicants—five Marines, 47 from the Navy, and 58 from the Air Force.

From that, 69 men were distilled and broken into two groups for the extensive physical and mental exams. Immediately, six candidates were rejected as too tall and another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to take part in the second round of tests, which eliminated eight more candidates, leaving only 18 men. The Mercury Seven were selected from the 18, with NASA describing each as being a "superb physical specimen" with a genius-level IQ, and the ability to function well both as part of a team and solo. These seven original American astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton. (NASA photo, right) Grissom, Cooper, and Slayton were Air Force pilots; Shepard, Carpenter, and Schirra were Navy pilots; and Glenn was a Marine Corps pilot. However, despite the extensive medical evaluation, two of the seven (Shepard and Slayton) were soon grounded for undiagnosed medical conditions and sat out the entirety of Project Gemini and most of the Apollo program supervising the active astronauts.

With NASA’s announcement, the men were immediate national heroes, despite having not flown a Mercury mission yet, and were overrun with media attention and with questions on their personal lives. The seven astronauts agreed to share equally any proceeds from interviews regardless of who flew first. Their wives signed a joint contract with Life magazine for $500,000 in exchange for exclusive access to their private lives, homes, and families. The men wrote first-hand accounts of their selection and preparation for the Mercury missions in the 1962 book We Seven. Additionally, each of them separately wrote at least one book describing their astronaut experiences. Also see: Famous Order of the Turtles Members List Famous Order of the Turtles Members By User X 6.4k views 4 items tags f t p @ List Criteria: Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles members list List of Famous Order of the Turtle Members ranked by fame and popularity. The Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles is a drinking club for World War II pilots, who were looking for a way to relax between missions. The Turtles follow the creed “Turtles are bright eyed, bushy tailed, fearless and unafraid folk with a fighter pilot attitude.

They think clean, have fun a lot, and recognize the fact that you never get any place in life worthwhile unless you stick your neck out.” Who is the most famous member of the Order of the Turtle? President John F. Kennedy confirmed his membership to the world when a reporter asked him, “Are you a turtle?” Kennedy replied with the revealing response, “I'll buy you your drink later.” The proper answer to the question, “Are you a turtle?” is actually, “You bet your sweet ass I am.” Astronauts Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton famously traded the question over worldwide broadcasts. Schirra turned off the open line radio to deliver the proper response and responded with “roger” on the main line. Slayton was a bit more bold with his answer as he openly gave the proper response on board the USS Kearsarge. Slayton's response was recalled in Tom Wolfe's famous book “The Right Stuff.” Do you think it would be fun to be in the Order of the Turtle? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Question: Mercury Seven, also referred to as the Original Seven, were a group of what?
Answer: Astronauts