I Miss the Old Days

On This Day in 1959, America Met the Mercury Seven: On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced the Mercury Seven, the first American astronauts. After exhaustive tests that some called "torture," the seven were selected from a pool of more than 500. The criteria for selection were extremely specific, including everything from educational achievement to the ability to withstand sitting in a 130-degree chamber for hours. They were all military test pilots, and they stood 5'11" or shorter, because NASA intended to build small spacecraft.