Mercury 7
Less than a year after its birth, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced its first astronaut class, the Mercury Seven, on April 9, 1959. Project Mercury proved that humans could live and work in space, paving the way for all future human exploration. This cutaway drawing of the Mercury capsule was used by the Space Task Group at the first NASA inspection, on Oct. 24, 1959. Image Credit: NASA
In a press conference held 50 years ago today, the newly formed NASA introduced it’s first group of astronauts — the Mercury Seven.
Each became a household name as all but Deke Slayton took turns flying solo missions as part of the Mercury Program. Slayton, who was grounded by medical problems eventually got his turn to fly.
In addition to Slayton, the men are: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, and Alan Shepard.
Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961, when his Freedom 7 spacecraft made a suborbital flight.
On February 20, 1962, an Atlas rocket successfully carried Glenn into space on the nation’s first orbital mission.
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.
In honor of the anniversary, here are a couple of NASA links:
• http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/50th_announcement/
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/
