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"We Seven" by the Mercury Astronauts themselves. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1962. First edition

The Mercury Seven were the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. They piloted the manned spaceflights of the Mercury program from May 1961 to May 1963. These seven original American astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton. Alan Shepard was the second person and the first American to travel into space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel into space.

 

The story of the macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program of the Mercury astronauts and the equally fearless approach of test pilot Chuck Yeager was the basis of a book by Tom Wolfe (1979) and a movie by Philip Kaufman (1983). Both are titled “The Right Stuff.” Here is a link to the movie trailer:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak1n6qQS3_A

 

 

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Uploaded on April 28, 2015
Taken on April 27, 2015