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Mercury Seven Astronauts
When NASA opened its doors on October 1, 1958, one of its first tasks was to develop selection criteria for the first U.S. astronauts. Though the organization was ready to consider civilians, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that astronauts were to be chosen only from the nation's active-duty test pilots. In 1959, NASA introduced the seven Project Mercury astronauts. Known as the Mercury Seven, they included (standing, from left to right): Alan Shepard (1923–1998), Walter Schirra (1923–2007), Virgil "Gus" Grissom (1926–1967), Scott Carpenter (1925–2013), John Glenn (1921–2016), Donald "Deke" Slayton (1924–1993), and Gordon Cooper (1927–2004). Flip Schulke photographed the group in 1961, as they gathered around a monitor displaying a gantry at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In May of that same year, Shepard became the first American in space, and several months later, Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.
Flip Schulke, 1961 |