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

Exploring the Unknown 127
4. Flight Test Operations
a. Several full-scale dummy capsules have been dropped from a
C-130 airplane. Purpose: to check subsonic stability and parachute
deployment. Initial results: parachute deployment is satisfactory.
b. The first Atlas Flight (Atlas C) is scheduled for June or July 1959.
Primary purpose: to check ablation heat shield.
5. Pilot Selection: The aero medical group at Langley (Maj. White, USAF, Lt.
Voas, Navy, and Capt. Augerson, Army), have set up a tentative procedure for
pilot selection and training. Briefly, the plan calls for a preliminary meeting on
[3] December 22 with representatives from the services and industry. These representatives
will “nominate” a pool of 150 men by January 21. From this pool, 36
candidates will be selected by February 15. A series of physical and other tests will
eliminate all but 12 by the middle of March; these 12 men will then go through
a nine months training and qualification program. Six men are finally expected
to qualify.
George M. Low
Program Chief
Manned Space Flight
Cc: Dr. Dryden
Dr. Silverstein
Mr. Sanders
Low:lgs
Document I-20
Document Title: Invitation to Apply for Position of Research Astronaut-Candidate,
NASA Project A, Announcement No. 1, 22 December 1958.
Source: Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division,
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
In November 1958 aeromedical consultants working for the Space Task Group at
Langley worked out preliminary procedures for the selection of astronauts to pilot the Mercury
spacecraft. Their proposal involved meetings with industry and the military services which
would result in the nomination of 150 men. This would be narrowed down to 36 to undergo
extensive physical and psychological testing. Ultimately, 12 would be selected to undergo
training and qualification, of which only 6 were expected to fly.
This plan led Charles Donlan, Technical Assistant to the Director of Langley; Warren
J. North, a former NACA test pilot and head of the office of Manned Satellite; and Allen O.
Gamble, a psychologist detailed from the National Science Foundation, to draft job specifications
for applicants for the astronaut program. Although carefully drawn up, this plan was
abandoned when President Eisenhower (during the Christmas holiday) decided that only
military test pilots should be allowed to apply. This eliminated the option of including civilians
in the civilian manned space program, but greatly simplified the selection process.