1959: Out of 110 candidates, NASA selected The Mercury Seven (top left to bottom right): Walter M. Schirra jr. Alan B. Shepard jr. John H. Glenn, M. Scott Carpenter, Donald K. Slayton, L. Gordon Cooper, Virgil I. Grissom. Cooper, Grissom, and Slayton were USAF captains. All of the Mercury Seven eventually flew in space. They piloted the six spaceflights of the Mercury program that had an astronaut on board from May 1961 to May 1963, and members of the group flew on all of the NASA human spaceflight programs of the 20th century–Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. (NASA Image, PD)
