April 9: NASA introduces the Mercury 7 astronauts.
On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced its first class of astronauts. They were all military test pilots before they were chosen for the job, and they had all the right stuff. They were used as a testing ground for the new human spaceflight program because they didn't get to do much piloting inside the Mercury vehicle. Some of the pilots were not happy about it. The Mercury 7 became national heroes because the rest of the country didn't pay attention. The first American to fly to space was Al Shepard. John Glenn was the first American to go into space. Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, and Wally Schirra all completed missions after that.
NASA introduced its first class of astronauts. The Mercury 7 are a group of young men.
They were all military test pilots before they were chosen for the job, and they had all the right stuff. They were used as a testing ground for the new human spaceflight program because they didn't get to do much piloting inside the Mercury spacecraft.
Some of the pilots were not happy about it. The Mercury 7 became national heroes because the rest of the country didn't pay attention. Alan Shepard was the first American to fly to space.
John Glenn was the first American to go into space. Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, and Wally Schirra all completed missions after that. The Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first joint flight by the United States and Soviet Union and it was flown by Deke Slayton.
You can find our entire On This Day In Space series on YouTube.
Is there still not enough space? On the weekends, we have our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week.
Follow us on social media.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
