Project Mercury Accomplishments

On April 9, 1959, NASA’s administrator, Dr. Keith Glennan formed its first astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Project Mercury’s objective was to place a human spacecraft into orbital flight around Earth. It was to observe how the human body reacted in space conditions. Many questions appeared as to whether they would come back safely or if were they the right people to do the challenge. The selection process in order to be qualified for NASA’s project took awhile. More than 500 applicants qualified for the job, but NASA had very high standards for the qualifications; all candidates had to be test pilots, couldn't be taller than 5 feet 11 inches, and required to weigh no more than 180 pounds. Also, they had to be younger than 40 years old. There were physical and mental exams, as either some dropped out or didn’t fit
He was also active in the Apollo program and was killed along with his crew in a cabin fire during a spacecraft test on the launch pad on January 27, 1967.
Wally Schirra stayed with the Gemini and Apollo programs, commanding Gemini 6A and performing the world's first space rendezvous in December 1965. “He resigned from NASA and joined CBS News in 1969 as a co-anchor for all of the Apollo Moon landing missions, 11 through 17” (NASA).
Gordon Cooper also stayed as well with Gemini and Apollo, commanding the eighth-day Gemini 5 flight in 1965 and retired from NASA in July 1970.
Overall, after reading articles about the Mercury 7 being the first astronauts in America was a huge deal with a huge qualification process. Also, to continue being a big part of it really showed why they were chosen. I've learned that the Mercury Vll weren't only astronauts, but were the first in helping scientists discover more about space and now because of them, America can finally learn, invent, and repeatedly send more projects into