Mercury Seven 725945 222082555 2008-06-27T13:55:57Z Tdadamemd 2503207 /* Group members */ {{distinguish|Mercury-Atlas 7}} [[Image:EL-1996-00089a.jpg|right|thumb|right|210px|<small>Back Row - Shepard, Grissom, Cooper; Front Row - Schirra, Slayton, Glenn, Carpenter.</small><br> This was the only time the seven astronauts would appear together in pressure suits.<ref>{{cite book |title= Deke!|last=Slayton |first=Donald K. |authorlink= |coauthors=Cassutt, Michael |year=1994 |publisher=Forge |location=New York |isbn=0312-85918-X |pages=87}}</ref> Note that Slayton and Glenn are wearing work boots that were spray-painted.]] [[Image:Mercury Seven.jpg|thumb|right|210px|(L to R) Cooper, Schirra, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter]] The '''Mercury Seven''' was the group of seven [[Project Mercury|Mercury]] [[astronauts]] picked by [[NASA]] on [[April 9]], [[1959]]. 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 spacecraft of the 20th century, from Mercury, through Gemini and Apollo, and ending with John Glenn's flight on the [[STS-95]] [[Space Shuttle]] mission. ==Selection process== President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] insisted that all candidates be test pilots with college degrees. Because of the small space inside the Mercury capsule, candidates could be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg).<ref name="moonshot">{{cite book |last= Slayton |first= Donald K. |coauthors= Alan Shepard, Jay Barbree, Howard Beneduict |title= [[Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon]] |publisher= [[Turner Publishing]] |year= 1994 |isbn= 1-57036-167-3 }}</ref> NASA identified 69 candidates and brought them to Washington, DC for extensive physical and mental exams. Six candidates were rejected as too tall for the planned spacecraft. Another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to partake in the second round of tests which included spending hours on [[treadmill]]s and [[tilt table]]s and submerging their feet in ice water. The second phase of testing eliminated eight more candidates, leaving 18. From that group of 18, the first seven NASA Astronauts were chosen.<ref name="mentalfloss">{{cite journal |last=Carmichael |first=Mary |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2007 |month=Nov-Dec |title=Actually, It Is Rocket Science: NASA's Brilliant, Far-Out History |journal=Mental_Floss |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=42 |id= |url= |accessdate= 2007-11-18 |quote= }}</ref> The astronauts wrote first-hand accounts of their selection and preparation for the Mercury missions in the 1962 book ''[[We Seven]]''. In 1979 [[Tom Wolfe]] published a less sanitized version of their story in ''[[The Right Stuff (book)|The Right Stuff]]''. Wolfe's book was the basis for the popular film directed by [[Philip Kaufman]]. ==Group members== [[Image:AstronautAssignmentsChart.PNG|thumb|right|A chart showing Group 1 assignments in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo in relation to assignments from subsequent astronaut groups.]] *[[Scott Carpenter|M. Scott Carpenter]] (1925 - ) :[[Mercury-Atlas 7|MA-7 (''Aurora 7'')]] *[[Gordon Cooper|L. Gordon Cooper, Jr]] (1927 - 2004) :[[Mercury-Atlas 9|MA-9 (''Faith 7'')]], [[Gemini 5]] *[[John Glenn|John H. Glenn, Jr]] (1921 - ) :[[Mercury-Atlas 6|MA-6 (''Friendship 7'')]], [[STS-95]] *[[Gus Grissom|Virgil I. Grissom]] (1926 - 1967) :[[Mercury-Redstone 4|MR-4 (''Liberty Bell 7'')]], [[Gemini 3]], [[Apollo 1]] *[[Wally Schirra|Walter M. Schirra]] (1923 - 2007) :[[Mercury-Atlas 8|MA-8 (''Sigma 7'')]], [[Gemini 6A]], [[Apollo 7]] *[[Alan Shepard|Alan B. Shepard, Jr]] (1923 - 1998) :[[Mercury-Redstone 3|MR-3 (''Freedom 7'')]], [[Apollo 14]] *[[Deke Slayton|Donald K. Slayton]] (1924-1993) :[[Apollo-Soyuz Test Project]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[Man In Space Soonest]] *[[Mercury 13]] {{Astronaut Group 1 Footer}} [[Category:NASA]] [[Category:Mercury program]] [[Category:American astronauts]] [[Category:Multiple people]] [[Category:Numeric epithets|7]] [[Category:Lists of astronauts]] {{astronaut-stub}} [[lb:Mercury Seven]] [[hu:Mercury Seven]] [[ja:マーキュリー・セブン]] [[ms:Mercury Tujuh]] [[nl:Mercury Seven]] [[ru:Первый отряд астронавтов США]] [[sv:Astronautgrupp 1]] [[zh:水星计划7人]]