Nasa. Historical photograph of the seven MERCURY SEVEN astro - Lot 12

Nasa. Historical photograph of the seven MERCURY SEVEN astronauts. These astronauts were the group of seven selected to pilot a spacecraft as part of the MERCURY project. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959. These seven original American astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. All the Mercury Seven eventually flew into space. They piloted every Mercury spaceflight with an astronaut on board from May 1961 to May 1963, and members of the group participated in every NASA human spaceflight program of the 20th century - Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. Shepard became the first American to enter space in 1961, then walked on the Moon on Apollo 14 in 1971. Grissom flew Mercury and Gemini missions, but died in 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire; the others all survived after retirement. Schirra flew Apollo 7, the first Apollo mission, in Grissom's place. Slayton, stranded with atrial fibrillation, finally took part in the Apollo-Soyuz test project in 1975. Glenn became the first American in orbit in 1962, and flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 to become, at 77, the oldest person to fly in space. He was the last living member of the Mercury Seven when he died in 2016 at the age of 95. 1959. Posterior chromogenic print. Label on back. 20.4 x 25.5cm with margins.