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

Exploring the Unknown 135
3. Procedure
a. To condense the maximum information in the minimum time,
it is recommended that a university, such as Harvard, MIT, or
Penn., be asked to construct a special (if no appropriate course
exists) two-three-week course in July or August in a survey of
astronautics and geophysics.
b. It is recommended that this be further supplemented by an occasional
seminar with local or visiting experts in these areas to help
keep the astronauts up-to-date on current research; for example
reports on data from cloud-cover satellites.
c. Some of the pilots may wish to work with some of the groups
doing supporting research; for example, radiation studies administered
by the Washington office.
d. It is recommended that attempts be made, while performing
simulated missions, to find out what observations the men can
make. It is believed that by using the synthesizing ability of the
individual, good meteorological studies can be made using apparatus
already in the vehicle.
4. It is understood that there is reason for contrary opinions to the above.
However, it is believed that the efficiency of the vehicle system will be
such that time for scientific observations will be available (especially on
28-hour missions) and that the expense of this operation makes it desirable
to obtain all the data we can from it. The training necessary to perform
these tasks can be given fairly easily considering the experience and
intelligence of these pilots. Even if no observations are permitted, it is
believed that training in the area of astronautics and geophysics will aid
in the operational accomplishment of Project Mercury.
Dr. William S. Augerson
Human Factors Branch
Document I-22
Document Title: George M. Low, Program Chief, Manned Space Flight, NASA,
Memorandum for Administrator, NASA, “Pilot Selection for Project Mercury,”
23 April 1959.
Source: Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History
Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
Astronaut selection became a topic of interest to many in the general public early on.
Who was chosen and why? What criteria were used? Who might have been excluded from
consideration, either intentionally or not? This memorandum documents an issue that arose
almost simultaneously with the unveiling of the Mercury Seven astronauts in mid-April