First Astronaut Team

Project Mercury Astronauts, whose selection was announced on April 9, 1959, only six months after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was formally established on October 1, 1958: (front row, left to right) Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donald K. “Deke” Slayton; John H. Glenn, Jr.; and Scott Carpenter; (back row, left to right) Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom; and L. Gordon Cooper.