| Astronauts | Atlas | Redstone | Missions | Patches | History |
Mercury 7 Astronauts
Gus Grissom | Walter Schirra | Alan Shepard | Deke Slayton
Born: May 1, 1925
Died: October 10, 2013
Flights: Mercury Atlas 7
Total Hrs in Space: 6
Carpenter was selected as one of the original seven U.S. Astronauts on April 9, 1959. He
underwent intensive training with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, specializing
in the fields of communication and navigation. He served as backup pilot for John Glenn during
the preparation for America's first manned orbital flight. Carpenter flew the second American
manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. He piloted his Aurora 7 spacecraft through three
revolutions of the earth, reaching a maximum altitude of 164 miles. The spacecraft landed in the
Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles southeast of Cape Kennedy after 4 hours and 54 minutes of
flight time.
Born: March 6, 1927
Died: October 4, 2004
Flights: Mercury Atlas 9, Gemini 5
Total Hrs in Space: 225
Cooper flew 22 orbits (solo) in Mercury 9 (Faith 7) 1963 - Gave one of the opening addresses to
the first meeting of the League of African Nations (from Space) 1963 - Used the first television
camera in Space 1963 - First pilot-controlled re-entry from Space 1963-1965 - First Military man
to address the Joint Sessions of Congress twice 1965 - Flew 122 orbits as command pilot of Gemini
5 1965 - First man to fly two orbital flights 1965 - First man to fly a fuel cell in Space 1965
- First man to fly a radar set in Space 1965 - First man to track a typhoon from Space 1965 -
Established the World Record of most hours in Space for the United States 1965 - National
Aeronautic Association Record Distance in Earth orbit 1965.
Born: July 18, 1921
Died: December 8, 2016
Flights: Mercury Atlas 6
Total Hrs in Space: 4
Glenn was chosen with the first group of astronauts in 1959. On February 20, 1962, Glenn piloted
the Mercury-Atlas 6 "Friendship 7" spacecraft on the first manned orbital mission of the United
States. Launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, he completed a successful three-orbit
mission around the earth, reaching a maximum altitude (apogee) of approximately 162 statute
miles and an orbital velocity of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. Glenn's "Friendship 7"
Mercury spacecraft landed approximately 800 miles southeast of KSC in the vicinity of Grand
Turk Island. Mission duration from launch to impact was 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.
He made three orbits on this mission. He left the NASA astronaut corps in 1964 and later entered
politics as a senator from Ohio.
Born:April 3, 1926
Died:January 27, 1967
Flights:Mercury Redstone 4 and Gemini 3
Total Hrs in Space:5
Gus was chosen with the first group of astronauts in 1959. He was the pilot for the 1961
Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) mission, a suborbital flight; command pilot for Gemini III;
backup command pilot for Gemini VI; and had been selected as commander of the first Apollo flight
at the time of his death in the Apollo 204 fire in January 1967. He died along with astronauts
Edward White II and Roger Chaffee in a fire during a launch pad test. He was buried in Arlington
National Cemetery.
Born: March 12, 1923
Died: May 3, 2007
Flights: Mercury Atlas 8, Gemini 6, Apollo 7
Total Hrs in Space: 295
NASA selected Schirra as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959. He flew on the
fifth Project Mercury flight, orbiting the earth in his Sigma 7 capsule six times in 9 hours 13
minutes on Oct. 3, 1962. Following the fiasco of Carpenter’s preceding flight, he conducted a
‘textbook mission’, with minimal experiments.
Schirra commanded Gemini 6, flying with astronaut Tom Stafford. They were to have tracked down
and docked with an Agena satellite, but the Agena exploded after lift-off on Oct. 25, 1965.
Innovative planners decided Gemini 6 would rendezvous with Gemini 7, a 14-day endurance flight
manned by Frank Borman and James Lovell. Gemini 7 was launched Dec. 4, 1965. Gemini 6 was to
take off December 12 but was aborted when the Titan 2 booster rocket engine shut down after
ignition. Schirra coolly did not pull the ejection handles and stayed on the live booster until
it could be declared safe. Three days later, Schirra and Stafford were launched and the rendezvoused
with Gemini 7. After five hours of formation spaceflight, Schirra moved away from Gemini 7. He
and Cernan returned to earth the next day while Gemini 7 continued its gruelling flight.
Schirra was commander of Apollo 7 - the first flight test of the redesigned Apollo after the
first crew died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire on January 27, 1967. Following launch on
October 11, 1968, the flight was a complete success and provided NASA with confidence to send
the next Apollo crew into orbit around the moon. However Schirra and his crew suffered head
colds and had numerous arguments with ground controllers. NASA management secretly decided that
none of them would be allowed to fly in space again.
Shepard was a member of the first group of seven astronauts in 1959 chosen to participate in
Project Mercury. He was the first American in space, piloting MR 3 (Freedom 7), and was backup
pilot for MA 9. He was subsequently grounded due to an inner ear ailment until May 7, 1969
(during which time he served as chief of the Astronaut Office). Upon returning to flight status
Shepard commanded Apollo 14, and in June 1971 resumed duties as chief of the Astronaut Office.
He retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy on August 1, 1974, to join the Marathon Construction
Company of Houston, Texas, as partner and chairman. Slayton was selected as one of the United States' seven original astronauts in 1959. He was
assigned to fly the second Project Mercury orbital mission, but was grounded by an irregular
heartbeat. He stayed with NASA to supervise the astronaut corps, first as Chief of the Astronaut
Office and then as Director of Flight Crew Operations. In these positions he determined the crew
assignments for all of the Gemini and Apollo missions. Slayton was finally restored to flight
status in 1972 and finally made it into space on July 17, 1975 as a crew member on the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Slayton, Tom Stafford, and Vance Brand manoeuvred their Apollo
capsule to a docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft carrying Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov.
After 47 hours of joint experiments with the Soyuz, Apollo undocked and remained in orbit for a
total of nine days, conducting other materials, biological, and earth photography experiments.
This last flight of an Apollo spacecraft almost ended in disaster when toxic propellants leaked
into the cabin during descent to the Pacific Ocean, harming the astronauts. For two years after
the mission, Slayton was Manager of the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests at Edwards Air
Force Base. From 1977 to 1982, Slayton was Manager for the first six Space Shuttle Orbital
Flight Tests.
Slayton then retired from NASA and went into a series of space-related positions, finally as
President of Space Services, Incorporated, which was developing the low cost Conestoga booster
for launch of commercial space payloads. Slayton died in League City, Texas, from complications
of a brain tumour, on June 13, 1993.
Born: November 18, 1924
Died: July 21, 1998
Flights: Mercury Redstone 3 and Apollo 14
Total Hrs in Space: 216
Born: March 1, 1924
Died: June 13, 1993
Flights: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (Apollo 18)
Total Time Space: 9 days 4 hrs
