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With Group 4, for the first time, the selection criteria did not include a requirement for test pilot proficiency. Selectees who were not qualified pilots would be assigned to the Air Force for a year of flight training. The primary scientific requirement was a doctorate in medicine, engineering, or one of the natural sciences.
Astronaut Group 3
Astronaut Group 4
Scientist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt
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Selection of Group Two virtually depleted the pool of qualified candidates from the small corps of test pilots in the country, and it was the last group for which test-pilot certification would be a requirement. The new trainees reported to Houston in October 1962 to begin a two-year training course. A four-day work week was normally scheduled, the fifth day being reserved for public relations duties or for travel.
Group 1, The Mercury 7
Back – See, McDivitt, Lovell, White, Stafford. Front – Conrad, Borman, Armstrong, Young
Astronaut Groups 1 and 2
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Over 52 years ago, in the early hours of May 5th, 1961 the US prepared to launch its first man into space. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had sent Yuri Gagarin on an orbital mission. This was a suborbital mission planed to last only 15 minutes. For the moment that did not matter, the entire nation held its breath while Alan Shepard became America’s first man in space.
Medical Telemetry
Shepard Suiting Up
Climbing In
Personal Problem
Launch
45 Million Viewers
Control Panel
Console Panel
Navigation Aids
Flight Plan
In Flight
On the Carrier
Huntsville
Shepard & Kennedy
Medal Ceremony
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A few seconds after liftoff, a fin-vane at the base of the booster stuck and started the 13-meter-tall spacecraft-booster combination spinning like a bullet. Twenty-six seconds into the flight the vehicle started coming apart. The abort-sensing system signaled the launch escape tower rocket to fire and pull the spacecraft away…
White Sands New Mexico
Launch Pad Abort Test
Little Joe II, A-001 with BP-12
Little Joe II Flight Profile
Little Joe II Real Emergency.
Little Joe II On the Pad
Little Joe Pad Abort Test
A-001 Launch
Little Joe II A-002
