In 1959, having determined that military test pilots would make the best astronauts, NASA began screening the records of 508 candidates. From there the group was narrowed to 110 men who went through interviews and written tests; of the 110, 32 candidates were selected to undergo extensive physical and mental testing. Finally, on April 1, the NASA selection committee selected seven of those men to be their first astronaut class.
On April 9, the Mercury 7 were announced: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. They would spend the next four years as part of Project Mercury, a series of tests and spaceflights that would prove America could send humans to space. Three (Cooper, Grissom, and Schirra) would also go on to serve in the Gemini program, and three (Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton) would fly in Apollo missions. All were hailed as national heroes. To capitalize on this public interest in them and the space program, NASA arranged an exclusive deal with LIFE magazine for coverage of the astronauts, their training, and their missions – and even of the home lives of their wives.
