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Original seven Astronauts portrait (Back row, L-R: Shepard, Grissom, Cooper; Front row, L-R: Schirra, Slayton, Glenn, Carpenter). Note that Slayton and Glenn are wearing work boots that were spray-painted.

(L to R) Cooper, Schirra, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter

The Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts picked by National Aeronautics and Space Administration in April 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. This was the only astronaut group with members that flew on all classes of NASA manned spacecraft of the 20th century, from Mercury, through Gemini and Apollo, and ending with John Glenn's flight on the STS-95 Space Shuttle mission.

NASA intially considered recruiting trapeze artists, as they were limber and strong. President Eisenhower insisted that all candidates be pilots with college degrees. Due to the small space inside the Mercury capsule, candidates could be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg).

NASA identified 69 candidates and brought them to Washington, DC for extensive physical and mental exams. Six candidates were rejected as too tall for the planned spacecraft. Another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to partake in the second round of tests which included spending hours on treadmills and tilt tables and submerging their feet in ice water. The second phase of testing eliminated eight more candidates, leaving 18. From that group of 18, the first seven NASA Astronauts were chosen.^[1]

The astronauts wrote first-hand accounts of their selection and preparation for the Mercury missions in the 1962 book We Seven. In 1979 Tom Wolfe published a less sanitized version of their story in The Right Stuff. Wolfe's book was the basis for the popular film directed by Philip Kaufman.

• Malcolm Scott Carpenter (1925– ) Mercury-Atlas 7
• Leroy Gordon Cooper (1927–2004) Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5
• John H. Glenn Jr. (1921– ) Mercury-Atlas 6, STS-95
• Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (1926–1967) Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1
• Walter M. "Wally" Schirra (1923–2007) Mercury-Atlas 8, Gemini 6A, Apollo 7
• Alan B. Shepard (1923–1998) Mercury-Redstone 3, Apollo 14
• Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (1924–1993) Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

1. ^ Carmichael, Mary (Nov-Dec 2007). "Actually, It Is Rocket Science: NASA's Brilliant, Far-Out History". Mental_Floss 6 (6): 42. Retrieved on 2007-11-18. 

• Man In Space Soonest
• Mercury 13

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