posted 04-13-2004 02:10 PM               

It shows the names of most of the 32 finalists (sometimes called semifinalists) from the 1959 Project Mercury selection process.

They were drawn from an initial pool of 508 "jet-qualified military test pilots" who met several other criteria. Neil Armstrong was a civilian test pilot at the time and, so, did not qualify. Chuck Yeager did not have the required college degree. Incidentally, For Spacious Skies explains how Carpenter and Glenn qualified w/o college degrees.

Sixty-nine men were called for the Phase 2 interviews, briefings, and testing held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 1959. Thirty-two advanced to Lovelace and Wright-Patterson. With its wealth of high-IQ candidates, the selection committee sent only those candidates with 130+ IQs.

At Lovelace (Phase 3) one candidate was medically disqualified by a cardiac condition.

By Phase 5 (March 1959), the working group had produced numerical rankings of the remaining 31. Thirteen were declared recommended "with medical reservations." This left eighteen candidates actively considered by the Selection Committee members. At the end of March, they chose candidates ranked 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, and 15.

I supply guessed given names in brackets based on SETP records and interviews with survivors.

The List (partial)

• [Larry] Baldwin
  
• Bell
  
• Scott CARPENTER
  
• [Hal W.] Christian
  
• Pete Conrad
  
• Gordo COOPER
  
• [W. J.] Cox
  
• Crandall
  
• Ekeren
  
• [Al] Frazier
  
• John GLENN
  
• Gus GRISSOM
  
• Haward
  
• Heyworth
  
• [Arch] Iddings
  
• Jacobson
  
• [Bill] Lawrence [USN?]
  
• Jim Lovell
  
• Ralston
  
• Wally SCHIRRA
  
• Shelton
  
• Alan SHEPARD
  
• Deke SLAYTON
  
• Bob Solliday
  
• [Jim] Wood [USAF]

posted 04-15-2004 05:34 PM               

• Cooper, L. Gordon
  
• Shepard, Alan B., jr.
  
• Mitchell, John R. C.
  
• Conrad, Charles
  
• Schirra, Walter M.
  
• Shelton, Donald B.
  
• Baldwin, Robert B
  
• Cox, Dale W.
  
• Ekeren, Halvor M.
  
• Hayward, Thomas B.
  
• Jacobsen, Robert H.
  
• Lovell, James A.
  
• Christian, Harold W.
  
• Glenn, John H.
  
• Grissom, Virgil I.
  
• Heyworth, Lawrence, jr.
  
• Ralston, John
  
• Wood, James
  
• Carpenter, M. Scott
  
• Crandall, Hal R.
  
• Frazier, Frank D.
  
• Iddings, Archie T., jr.
  
• Slayton, Donald K.
  
• Solliday, Robert E.
  
• Tierney, John M.
  
• Bell, Robert G.
  
• Lawrence, William P.

• 15 USN
  
• 10 USAF
  
• 2 USMC

posted 06-24-2004 04:27 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by KC Stoever:
[Bill] Lawrence [USN?]

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From dcmilitary.com:

What Lawrence didn't mention was that he himself was one of the 32 finalists for the astronaut program in the early days when Shepard and Glenn were picked to become two of the first seven Mercury astronauts. In his book Space writer James Michener describes Lawrence as "perhaps the ablest" pilot Pax River ever produced - including Shepard AND Glenn. Be that as it may, Lawrence had a minor heart murmur, which was sufficient to knock him out of the final selection. It is no stretch to conjecture that without that minor murmur, the first American into space might have been Bill Lawrence instead of Alan Shepard.

posted 06-29-2004 03:35 PM               

Mine is Bob Solliday, NTPS class 20.

Michener's claim about Lawrence's NTPS bona fides, too, sounds like the hyperbole of a fan. Most of the NTPS grads, especially those swept up in the 1959 selection process were elite aviators, each with unique gifts and strenghts. They themselves would discourage language, I think, about so-and-so being the best ever produced by Patuxent. They were all the best.

What-ifs can be useful exercises. But I think, with historical processes like the Mercury selection, one has to respect the facts. Lawrence's heart defect, easily remedied with surgery, was a clear medical disqualification, and NASA was looking for that magic "three 9s"--99.9 percent reliability in systems, machines, and humans.

posted 01-08-2008 10:50 AM               

• Mike Adams (later MOL then X-15),
  
• Vance Brand
  
• Jim Irwin
  
• Jack Swigert
  
• Ron Evans
  
• Robert Shoemaker (later a Vietnam POW),
  
• James Roman
  
• Greg Neubeck (later MOL selectee)

posted 01-09-2008 12:00 PM               

Irwin was badly injured in an aircraft accident in the early 60's, and although he (obviously) made a complete recovery, NASA was concerned about how well he had actually recovered in 1962 and 1963. For whatever reasons, these concerns were dispelled by 1966.

posted 09-14-2009 12:13 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ColinBurgess:
I am still missing the names of four candidates.

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posted 10-14-2009 06:18 PM               

Documentation TK.

From the USAF:

• Richard M. Corbett
  
• Edward G. Givens, Jr.
  
• Alonzo Walter, Jr.
  
• Thomas R. Bogan
  
• Jack B. Mayo

• Paul Miller

posted 10-20-2009 02:01 PM               

In December 1958, during Phase One of the selection process for Group 1 astronauts (Project Mercury), NASA screened the service jackets of 508 "jet-qualified military test pilots." I know now, thanks to pokey's question, that Mr. McElmurry was in this group of 508 active-duty military test pilots.

We know that by the end of Phase One, NASA had further identified 110 men who met the "minimum standards" established by NASA's 7 criteria. The plan was to invite all 110 candidates for further evaluation (at what would be called Phase Two), held at the Pentagon and NASA HQ. Speed was a factor, however, and NASA ended up inviting only 69 to Washington, D.C. McElmurry was in this group too.

During Phase Two, therefore, 69 military test pilots reported to the Pentagon and NASA HQ (in two groups, the first arriving February 2, the second on February 9) for interviews and physicals and so on. McElmurry was probably in the February 2 group because in his NASA oral history he reports seeing Shepard, whom we know was in the February 2 group.

So, during Phase Two:

• Initial screenings found that 5 of the 69 men were too tall (although their medical records had them at 5'11 or less), leaving 64 semifinalists.
  
• 8 of the 64 semifinalists declined, leaving 56 men to continue (among them, McElmurry).
  
• 56 semifinalists took written tests, submitted to technical and psychiatric interviews, and reviewed their medical histories with flight surgeons.
  
• 1 semifinalist was remeasured and found to be too tall (5'11+), leaving 55 men.
  
• 8 semifinalists declined (McElmurry appears to have declined at this stage), leaving 47 semifinalists.
  
• 15 semifinalists were eliminated.
  
• 32 military test pilots proceeded to Phase 3 (Lovelace).

To restate, McElmurry removed himself from further consideration during Phase Two.

In his NASA oral history, Mr. McElmurry cites two principal issues that caused him to decline. First, he was deaf in his right ear, a sensitive medical fact that emerged during his exit interview with Warren North. (North assured him, he says, that the condition wouldn't be disqualifying.) Second, he says he was unimpressed with the flying opportunities NASA offered.

He "would have competed like a tiger," McElmurry concedes, had he known that lunar missions would eventually be involved. But he was put off, he says, by the notion of being a passenger and not a pilot (an early misconception about Project Mercury).

In closing, I feel an obligation to note one omission and one mistake in the NASA biographical sheet.

McElmurry's date of birth is not given (an omission). The NASA biographical sheet also states that he earned his B.S. in "1940." This must be a mistake. In his oral history, McElmurry says he went directly to Tuscaloosa in August 1945 and earned his degree in less than three years. So BS, 1948?

So what was his date of birth?

If he entered active military duty in 1940, as he reports in his oral history, then McElmurry was probably born in 1921 or 1922. Together with John Glenn (who also had WWII combat experience), he would have been among the oldest of the semifinalists in 1959.

posted 10-20-2009 02:15 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by KC Stoever:
So what was his date of birth?

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posted 10-20-2009 05:24 PM               

The Texas A&M account makes me think that the linked bio introduces an additional error about the astronaut selection process at NASA:

Remaining on activity military and as a test pilot, McElmurry was chief of the Operations and Training Branch of the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and an astronaut candidate in NASA Group 2, selected in 1961 for military astronaut class 1.

Further, wasn't NASA Group 2 selected in 1962? And wasn't Group 2's age cutoff 35? (For Group 1, the age cutoff was 40.)

posted 10-20-2009 06:14 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by KC Stoever:
From the USAF: Edward G. Givens, Jr.

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posted 10-25-2009 04:39 PM               

• Paul Horwell (USN) who became an "in house" astronaut for North America
  
• Howard Lane (USAF) who declined to progress in the First Stage
  
• Thomas McElmurry (USAF) who declined at the interview stage.

The seven outstanding candidates without reservations were: G, L, K, S, U, Z & EE. The 3 with reservations were R, V & DD. However when the results were announced, the selected candidates were, G, K, R, S, U, Z & EE; with candidate L being dropped. This raises the question of why was he eliminated? was it a political decision to get a favoured candidate into the group or did he decline prior to the highest ranked alternate (R) being given the chance?

posted 10-26-2009 07:06 PM               

My copy of the WADC Technical Report 59-505 by Charles L. Wilson (cited in THIS NEW OCEAN) arrived on Friday, and it's fascinating reading. The 31 candidates are all identified with letters. It's impossible for me at least to tease out any identities. Candidate K had the highest score for physical fitness (+9.28; table 6.3, p. 79; no one was even close)--so possibly "K" is Carpenter. Hard to tell.

And, you're right (and my account in FOR SPACIOUS SKIES slightly wrong) that those 7 recommended as outstanding w/o reservations were nearly all chosen for the program.

A comparison of Table 8.2 with the narrative describing the final meeting (p. 89) shows that "L" was dropped (or declined) in favor of alternate "R."

Perhaps "L" was a Navy candidate and "R" USAF, who finally overcame his reservations about the program. In this scenario, the service affiliation may have tipped the scales in his favor.

Charles Donlan in a 1966 oral history says: "we knew with two weeks of interviews [early February 1959] the guys we wanted."

posted 10-27-2009 12:41 PM               

I'm certain despite what Wally Schirra states that Don Shelton did NOT make it into the 32 finalists, and Bob Baldwin did. I spoke to both. Shelton was especially dismayed and Baldwin was philosophical.

As to your six additional candidates, I had Paul Miller to add as well as Ed Givens. However, Corbett, Walter, Bogan and Mayo were unknown to me.

posted 10-27-2009 07:21 PM               

I'm still absorbing this historic windfall, which left me flabbergasted and delighted both, and feel I can't tell a very good story about it quite yet.

My source worked at the Aero-Medical Lab under Dr. George Ruff and whoever else was in charge at Wright-Patterson. It was his job to meet all the midnight flights (each with five or six guys) coming in from Albuquerque, got everyone settled in their quarters.

He shared this story with me:

I first met [Carpenter] in the wee hours... say 0100... on Sunday morning, 22 MAR 59, at the James Cox Municipal Airport at Dayton, OH. He was accompanied by five other guys, namely Tom Bogan, Dick Corbett, Frank Frazier, John Glenn, and Bob Solliday. They had just arrived on a red-eye flight from Albuquerque, NM, after a week of 'probing' at the Lovelace Clinic. I drove them to the BOQ B221 at Wright-Pat and bedded them down for the night. Then we met Sunday afternoon for a few hours before the 'torture' was to begin at 0800 Monday morning.

posted 10-29-2009 11:40 AM               

My father was in the Pentagon during 1958-59 era (he was working for a private firm on submarines).

The way he remembers it, the Space Task Group was going around knocking on doors trying to sell there "Man in a Can" concept.

They needed the Air Force behind them because they needed the Atlas missile and they needed the Navy behind them because the Navy was going to fish him out of the drink.

He remembers hearing, "Will you go along with this, if we let one of your guys go?" He went on, "We will make this fair - three Navy guys - three Air Force guys".

So my take on all of this is that service affiliations were very important.

He heard later on that one fellow piped up, "You mean your not going to pick any Marines?" "The Marine Corps has jets, they have jet pilots, I know I'm one of them."

Bear in mind all of this happened in Nov.-Dec. 1958, as best he can remember.

posted 10-30-2009 11:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by parg1:
It would be useful to know why the change occurred and also the names of the missing candidates from the 69 initially interviewed.

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