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“United States Project Mercury, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This film documents the selection of the original seven astronauts for Project Mercury: Lieutenant Malcolm S. (Scott) Carpenter, Captain Leroy G. (Gordon) Cooper, Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Captain Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, Lieutenant Commander Walter M. Schirra, Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard, and Captain Donald K. (Deke) Slayton. The footage shows the selection criteria and process, the astronauts in training, and the beginnings of our knowledge of manned space flight.”
NASA film HQ-9
Reupload of a previously uploaded film, in one piece instead of multiple parts, and with improved video & sound.
Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
from “PROJECT MERCURY- THE ROLE OF THE ASTRONAUT IN PROJECT MERCURY SPACE FLIGHTS”
The Mercury vehicle was designed to operate automatically in a limited flight regime in order to permit extensive unmanned testing prior to the incorporation of the astronaut in the system. This requirement for automatic function provided the basic design requirement about which the Mercury subsystems were developed. As a result, the major systems are primarily designed for automatic operation and the manual overrides are added on to this basic system in such a way as to promote a maximum of reliability. The integration of the astronaut in the Mercury system provides added reliability and flexibility of flight…
When man is added, a number of redundant systems come into play. Retroattitude may now be achieved not only by the automatic control system, but also by one or more of three manual control systems using fly-bywire, rate command, or manual proportional control. Without man in the system, a single method for achieving a mission requirement existed, whereas with the insertion of the man into the system three new additional methods or a total of four partially or fully redundant systems are available…
In selecting the Mercury Astronauts, a total of SO8 test pilot personnel records were reviewed. On the basis of the characteristics shown in Fig. 7, this number was reduced to 68. The final seven astronauts were selected
– AGE-Less than 40
– HEIGHT-Less than 5′ 11″
– EXCELLENT PHYSICAL CONDITION
– BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR EQUIVALENT
– GRADUATE OF TEST PILOT SCHOOL
– 1,500 HOURS FLYING TIME
– QUALlFIED JET PILOT
Fig. 7-Criteria Used in Pilot Selection.
from this group on the basis of professional interviews, detailed medical examinations, and the physical and psychological reactions to stress tests. Having procured a basic group with the requisite background and training, it was now necessary to prepare them for piloting the Mercury vehicle.
Mercury astronauts, Mercury 7, Mercury Seven, Project Mercury, space, astronauts, space program, NASA,
