67 Years Since NASA Introduced the Mercury 7, America’s First Astronauts

Overview

• The seven test pilots, presented at a Washington, D.C., press conference on April 9, 1959, took questions for about 90 minutes.
• NASA selected them after screening 508 military candidates, narrowing the field to 110, then 32 for exhaustive tests before choosing the final seven.
• The Mercury 7 flew Project Mercury missions that proved the U.S. could send people to space, with Cooper, Grissom, and Schirra later flying Gemini and Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton flying Apollo.
• NASA’s exclusive arrangement with LIFE magazine elevated the astronauts as national figures by chronicling their training and family lives.
• The 67th‑anniversary reporting links their legacy to today’s Artemis crews, crediting the Mercury era with inspiring STEM education and helping launch the Astronaut Scholarship.