The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1 . Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959: Scott Carpenter , Gordon Cooper , John Glenn , Gus Grissom , Wally Schirra , Alan Shepard , and Deke Slayton .

2020年10月9日 · NASA announced the seven Project Mercury Astronauts on April 9, 1959, only six months later. They are: (front, l to r) Walter H. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and Scott...

On April 9, 1959, NASA formally introduced to the nation and the world its seven Mercury astronauts. The event took place in the ballroom of the Dolley Madison House on Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, which then served as the first headquarters of the new space agency.

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union.

2024年6月18日 · Project Mercury was the NASA program that put the first American astronauts in space. Astronauts made a total of six spaceflights during Project Mercury. Two of those flights reached space and came right back down. These are called suborbital flights. The other four went into orbit and circled Earth. The first of those six flights was made in 1961.

2006年11月30日 · 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.

These family men, all college-educated engineers in superb health, committed their professional lives to piloting the most sophisticated aircraft of their time. The choice of these astronauts marked a significant chapter in space exploration, resonating as a communal aspiration rather than an isolated scientific endeavor.

2024年5月9日 · After Project Mercury was completed, the Mercury Seven astronauts continued to have rewarding careers, accomplishing new achievements and completing impressive records in space as well as other notable undertakings.

2019年4月10日 · Sixty years ago this month, NASA introduced the first seven U.S. astronauts, a group selected from the nation’s top military pilots for Project Mercury. In the decade to come, the men would go on to leave their achievements writ large in the history of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

Project Mercury astronaut John Glenn trained in a mock-up of the planned NASA space capsule, 1959. America’s first venture into space was a feat of scientific ingenuity and also one of human daring.