22 – The Mercury Seven

On April 9th, 1959, in Washington D.C., America’s first seven astronauts were announced at a NASA press conference.

The selection process for Astronaut Group 1 started from 508 service records, all from branches of the U.S. Military. From that group, “110 men were found to meet the minimum standards.” A grueling medical and psychological examination process whittled down the number of applicants, with NASA eventually settling on seven instead of six of the 18 finalists.

Who Were the Original Mercury Seven? Back row: Astronauts Shepard, Grissom, Cooper. Front row: Schirra, Slayton, Glenn, Carpenter.

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  • 20 – Nicole Mann

    NASA astronaut Nicole Mann gives a thumbs up from inside the Orion mockup, Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

  • 18 – Jessica Meir

    NASA astronaut Jessica Meir gives a thumbs up after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan landed in their Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Friday, April 17, 2020.

  • 17 – Shannon Walker

    Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, both Expedition 24 flight engineers, attired in their Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, occupy their seats in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station.

  • 25 – Dr. Andrew Morgan

    Astronaut Andrew Morgan works while tethered on the International Space Station on October 11, 2019.