NASA introduces picks for Project Mercury

April 9, 1959: Now that men had been chosen to serve as the focal points for all this effort, new spirits animated the Space Task Group (STG). Indeed, the Nation as a whole began to participate vicariously in Project Mercury when, on April 9, 1959, at a press conference in Washington, Glennan (NASA ADMINISTRATOR) introduced to the public the seven men chosen to be this Nation's nominees for the first human voyagers into space.

They were to be called "astronauts," as the pioneers of ballooning had been called "Argonauts," for they were to sail into a new, uncharted ocean. These personable pilots were introduced in civilian dress; many people in their audience forgot that they were volunteer test subjects and military officers. Their public comments did not class them with any elite intelligence. Rather they were a contingent of mature Americans, average in build and visage, family men all, college-educated as engineers, possessing excellent health, and professionally committed to flying advanced aircraft.