50th Anniversary of NASA's First Astronauts

By Nancy Atkinson - April 6, 2009 at 3:42 PM UTC | Space Exploration
mercury7.jpg

[/caption] This week marks the 50th anniversary of the "Mercury Seven;" NASA's first seven astronauts. On April 9, 1959 NASA held a press conference in Washington, DC to introduce the men -- Gus Grissom, Alan Shephard, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn and Gordon Cooper. They would become household names in the US and media sensations. "I can't believe it's been that long," John Glenn said in an interview with an Ohio newspaper, the

Zanesville Times Recorder

. "The experience back then of being selected and participating in the early flights is so vivid to me, it seems like this all happened a couple of weeks ago.

NASA has created a very cool

interactive feature to celebrate this 50th anniversary

, including an interactive "press conference," a transcript and video clips of the original press conference, and a gallery of pictures.

The Mercury flights proved than humans could survive in space, and paved the way for the Gemini and Apollo flights.

"The early flights got so much attention because they were open to the world, they were not secrets," Glenn said. "When the Soviets sent up Gagarin, the data and information was secret. We had international press at the Cape (Canaveral) for the launch, and the Soviets hadn't had that; it wasn't permitted. President Eisenhower decided he wanted the program open for the whole world; he said we were going to succeed or fail with the world watching, and I think that was a good decision."

For further information about each of the six Mercury missions, see our Mercury section in Universe Today's Guide to Space.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com