April 9 - 1959: We Met Our First US Astronauts!!

They would be known as the Mercury 7, all military test pilots, and carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America’s first manned space program. In January 1959, NASA began the astronaut selection procedure, screening the records of 508 military test pilots and choosing 110 candidates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices