|
This was the historic first selection of NASA astronauts, chosen from a pool of military test pilots. The group became known as the Original Seven chosen for the one man Mercury program. Al Shepard became the first American in space, three weeks after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, he later became the only member of the group to walk on the moon. John Glenn became the first American in orbit and thirty six years later flew on the Shuttle, aged 77. Carpenter made one flight during Mercury but spent thirty days under water in the US Navy Sealab program becoming the first man to live in both inner and outer space. Cooper, Grissom and Schirra all flew Gemini missions. Tragically, Grissom was killed in the 1967 Apollo 1 pad fire, Schirra became the only astronaut to fly on all three American pioneering manned space programmes (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo). Slayton was medically grounded until flying in 1975 as a member of the American Apollo Soyuz Test Project crew.
|
