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Mercury Astronaut Selection Program

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Mercury Astronaut Selection Program
In addition to the technology needed to accomplish this monumental task, the other critical part to this program was the astronauts selected for the program. In order to get the right personnel for the job there needed to be a formal astronaut selection program. The astronaut selection process started when then President Eisenhower made the choice to use military test pilots so to streamline possible candidates. At this point, a NASA selection committee was formed, which consisted of a senior management engineer, a test pilot engineer, two flight surgeons, two psychologists, and two psychiatrists that analyzed dwindled down potential candidates. These military test pilots were chosen because it was thought that the conditions they would …show more content…
This project by the time it was finished take America from just only being able to travel on the ground and air to now space in just a little over a four-year period. Using newly developed rockets like the Mercury-Redstone and the Mercury-Atlas rockets, and space capsule that had never been used before. With the objectives laid out and the technology to get America to space there needed to be someone to take up in the space capsule. The project started with a series of unmanned launches followed by three with primates aboard. Once the safety and reliability of the rocket and capsule were verified, the project was able to launch two-sub-orbital and four orbital manned missions. The men that were initially selected for this project went through rigorous tests to get selected and once finally selected where treated like modern day rock stars. The selection process itself was a first of its kind pushing men to their limits in search of the best of the best. Shortly before the end of Project Mercury was finished the next project started it was called Project Gemini. Its purpose was to prepare for a manned mission to the moon. However, Project Mercury started the United States on the right path in getting to the moon with its initial objectives of getting to
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