Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

22 First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
the democratic principles of the republic. In many ways, the astronauts were the
logical focal point of the space program because they were something that regular
people could understand. Instead of mathematics, rockets, and acronyms, the
astronauts served as an understandable entry point into a mysterious and elite
world of science, technology, and exploration. In other words, the astronauts
were the single most important element that made the space program something
that resonated with the broader populace because of their (constructed to some
degree) “everyman” status. They were not part of the technological elites that
ran NASA, nor were they mechanical and alien like the machines they flew. They
were quite aware of their status as national symbols and hoped to use that status
to advance U.S. interests (I-28). 71
The astronauts worked enormously hard to make Project Mercury a success, undergoing
training far from their professional experience (I-21). 72 In December 1959, John
Glenn described for a colleague some of the stress and strain of this effort:
Following our selection in April, we were assigned to the Space Task
Group, portion of NASA at Langley Field, and that is where we are based
when not traveling. The way it has worked out, we have spent so much
time on the road that Langley has amounted to a spot to come back to
get clean skivvies and shirts and that’s about all. We have had additional
sessions at Wright Field in which we did heat chamber, pressure chamber,
and centrifuge work and spent a couple of weeks this fall doing additional
centrifuge work up at NADC, Johnsville, Pennsylvania. This was
some program since we were running it in a lay-down position similar to
that which we will use in the capsule later on and we got up to as high as
16 g’s. That’s a bitch in any attitude, lay-down or not (I-30). 73
NASA kept the astronauts enormously busy training for future space missions.
As Robert B. Voas of NASA’s Space Task Group reported in May 1960: “The
[training] program which has resulted from these considerations has allotted
about one-half of the time to group activities and the other half to individually
planned activities in each Astronaut’s area of specialization” (I-31). 74
When they were selected for Project Mercury in 1959, no one fully realized
what would be the result of having highly skilled pilots involved in the effort.
71. Mercury Astronauts, Memorandum For [Mercury] Project Director, NASA, “Exchange
of visits with Russian Astronauts,” 21 October 1959. Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference
Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
This is also the subject of Roger D. Launius, “Heroes in a Vacuum: The Apollo Astronaut as
Cultural Icon,” IAC-04-IAA.6.15.1.07, IAA History Session, International Astronautical Congress,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 4–8 October 2004.
72. Among other things they undertook scientific training. See Dr. William S. Augerson,
Human Factors Branch, NASA, Memorandum for Chief, Operations Division, NASA, “Scientific
Training for Pilots of Project Mercury,” 27 March 1959. Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference
Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
73. John Glenn, Mercury Astronaut, NASA, to Lt. Commander Jim Stockdale, USN, 17
December 1959. Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection (Doc. VII-I-31), NASA History
Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
74. Robert B. Voas, NASA Space Task Group, “Project Mercury Astronaut Training Program,”