Grissom and Donald K. Glenn Jr. Keith Glennan, announced the names of the agency's first group of astronauts at a news conference in Washington, D. Now known as the "Original Seven," they included three Naval aviators, M. Gus Grissom, and Donald K. Slayton had a previously undiscovered heart condition but later flew as a crew member of Apollo Soyuz Test Project. Front row, from left: Walter M.
Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Project Mercury had been announced on Oct. If yes, who were the right people for the challenge? Less than one month later, through a variety of interviews and a battery of written tests, the NASA selection committee pared down this group to 32 candidates.
From left, Lt. Scott Carpenter, Capt. Gordon Cooper, Col. John H. Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Lt. Walter Schirra, Lt. Alan B. Donald K. Each candidate endured even more stringent physical, psychological, and mental examinations, including total body x-rays, pressure suit tests, cognitive exercises, and a series of unnerving interviews. Of the 32 candidates, 18 were recommended for Project Mercury without medical reservations.
Donald "Deke" Slayton was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts — but he never flew in that program. Because of a heart condition, he was grounded for decades before being approved and flying in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint mission with the Soviet Union.
On his last flight, Gemini 5, Cooper and crewmate Pete Conrad set what was then a world endurance record of the time of hours 56 minutes. Named as one of NASA's "Original Seven" Mercury astronauts in , he remained an astronaut long enough to fly the first manned mission of the Apollo command module that eventually ferried crews to and from the moon.
He also sat through a pad abort during the Gemini program. After Glenn had reached orbit, and as he prepared for a call from President Kennedy, flight controllers noticed a "Segment This bag, located between the capsule's pressure vessel and heat shield, was supposed to cushion the splashdown landing.
Had it actually deployed in orbit, it would mean that the heat shield was loose. And if that were the case, America's first person in orbit would not make it home. The Kennedy call was canceled. Some flight controllers, including Kraft, were convinced the signal was spurious. Glenn hadn't heard any unexpected noises inside the capsule, and his displays weren't showing the same warning. After discussions, the mission managers decided to leave the vehicle's retro rockets in place after they'd been fired to put the capsule in a position for reentry.
If the heat shield really was loose, then the retro rockets might hold it in place, and the retro pack might provide some shielding during reentry. But there was a risk to this plan as well—if any solid fuel was left in the rockets they would have exploded. During the mission Glenn remained unflappable, even as fiery chunks of the retropack burned away during the descent.
After Glenn landed safely engineers discovered that it had been an errant switch. The public soon forgot these problems, and Glenn quickly became an American hero, even more so than Grissom or Shepard.
Although the Soviet Union had completed a couple of orbital flights, the United States had a cathartic reaction to Glenn's orbital flight, a sense of relief that America could do it, too. Glenn became such a national hero that he wasn't allowed to fly again. Kennedy would not take the risk of losing him. To the astronauts' surprise, the reporters asked about their personal lives instead of war records or flight experience, or about the details of Mercury.
After Glenn responded by speaking eloquently "on God, country, and family" the others followed his example, [4] —19 and the reporters "lustily applauded them. Plaque at LC The Mercury 7 astronauts examine their 'couches. The astronauts participated in Project Mercury's design and planning. Before Slayton could make his Mercury flight, he was diagnosed in with an erratic heart rhythm idiopathic atrial fibrillation , and grounded from flight by NASA and the Air Force.
He stayed with the manned space program, first as unofficial "Chief Astronaut", then in November becoming Coordinator of Astronaut Activities. The seven astronauts agreed to share equally any proceeds from interviews regardless of who flew first. John "Shorty" Powers , who as a result became known in the press as the "eighth astronaut". They wrote first-hand accounts of their selection and preparation for the Mercury missions in the book We Seven.
Additionally, each of them separately wrote at least one book describing their astronaut experiences. Wolfe's book was the basis for the film of the same name directed by Philip Kaufman.
Slayton continued as Director of Flight Crew Operations through the Gemini and Apollo programs, responsible for crew selection and training. In an effort to conquer his fibrillation, he gave up cigarettes and coffee, and placed himself on an intensive exercise and nutrition program.
In July , it ceased and he was returned to flight status, and flew on the last Apollo spacecraft in July as docking module pilot on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight. He commanded the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission in January—February before leaving the program in August Glenn decided to enter politics and left the program in
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