The UCL Cosmic Dust Lab

The Mercury Seven

Back row, left to right:
Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom and Gordon Cooper.
Front row, left to right:
Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, and Scott Carpenter.

The Mercury 7 were the USA's first selection of astronauts.

Formerly test pilots, they were trained for spaceflight in the Mercury spacecraft.

Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961, but only flew in a suborbital trajectory, as did Virgil Grissom.

John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He recently became the oldest man to go into space at the age of 77 aboard the space shuttle on mission STS-95.

Donald Slayton was the only Mercury astronaut not to fly in a Mercury spacecraft, having been withdrawn from the flightlist for medical reasons. However, over a decade later he was selected to fly on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project where he shook hands with Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in orbit.

Click here to go to the official NASA Mercury Project website

Page last updated on December 8 2000 . UCL is not reponsible for the content of external sites.

Comments/enquiries: a.wolff@ucl.ac.uk

	The Mercury 7 were the USA's first selection of astronauts.
	Formerly test pilots, they were trained for spaceflight in the Mercury spacecraft.
	Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961, but only flew in a suborbital trajectory, as did Virgil Grissom.
	John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He recently became the oldest man to go into space at the age of 77 aboard the space shuttle on mission STS-95.
	Donald Slayton was the only Mercury astronaut not to fly in a Mercury spacecraft, having been withdrawn from the flightlist for medical reasons. However, over a decade later he was selected to fly on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project where he shook hands with Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in orbit.

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The Mercury Seven