Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities, and Organizations. 1900 - 2003. Moving Images Relating to Military Aviation Activities. 1947 - 1984. NASA PRESS CONFERENCE OF MERCURY ASTRONAUT TEAM WASHINGTON D.C., 9 APRIL 1959

ArchivalResource

Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities, and Organizations. 1900 - 2003. Moving Images Relating to Military Aviation Activities. 1947 - 1984. NASA PRESS CONFERENCE OF MERCURY ASTRONAUT TEAM WASHINGTON D.C., 9 APRIL 1959

1959

Summary: Reel 1: Coverage of the introduction of the Mercury, Astronaut Team by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at a press conference. Mr. Walter Bonney, NASA Information Director who presided at the conference, introduces the following VIP's, who each give a short speech: Dr. T. Keith Glennan Administrator of NASA; Mr. Robert Gilruth, Director of Project Mercury and of the Space Task Group; Dr. Randolph Lovelace, Chaiman of the NASA Life Sciences Committee; Brig. Gen. Donald Flickinger, USAF; Capt. Norman Barr, US Navy; and Mr. Charles Donlan, Assistant to Mr. Gilruth. Reel 2: Coverage of the questions and answer period (verbatum in Master Reference File). The seven astronauts are, right to left: Lt. Malcom S. Carpenter, USN; Capt. Leroy G. Cooper, Jr., USAF; Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, USMC; Capt. Virgil I. Grissom, USAF; Lt. Commander Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USN; Lt. Commander Alan B. Shepard, USN; and Capt. Donald K. Slayton, USAF Good (Basic: Orig neg)

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SNAC Resource ID: 6497241

National Archives at College Park

Related Entities

There are 7 Entities related to this resource.

Carpenter, M. Scott, 1925-2013

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ms5f5v (person)

Scott Carpenter was born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, the son of research chemist Dr. M. Scott Carpenter and Florence Kelso Noxon Carpenter. He attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949 and received a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Carpenter was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1949. He was given flight training at Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas and designated a Naval Aviator in April, 1951. During the Korean War he served with patrol Squadron Six, fl...

Lovelace, W. Randolph (William Randolph), 1907-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x47zd6 (person)

Grissom, Virgil I. (Virgil Ivan), 1926-1967

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xg9qsf (person)

Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (b. April 3, 1926-d. Jan. 27, 1967) was born in Mitchell, Indiana. An Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, received his wings in March 1951. He flew 100 combat missions in Korea in F-86s with the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and, upon returning to the United States in 1952, became a jet instructor at Bryan, Texas. In August 1955, he entered the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to study Aeronautical Engineering. He attended the T...

Cooper, Gordon, 1927-2004

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mg9pnf (person)

Gordon Cooper (b. March 6, 1927-d. Oct. 4, 2004) was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He was selected as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959, and on May 15-16, 1963, he piloted the "Faith 7" spacecraft on a 22-orbit mission which concluded the operational phase of Project Mercury. He later served as command pilot of the 8-day 120-revolution Gemini 5 mission which began on August 21, 1965. It was on this flight that he and pilot Charles Conrad established a new space endurance record by traveling a dista...

Glenn, John, 1921-2016

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t54gzv (person)

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (b. July 18, 1921, Cambridge, Guernsey County-d. December 8, 2016, Columbus, Ohio), astronaut and U.S. Senator from Ohio. He attended public schools of New Concord, Ohio, and later graduated from Muskingum College. Glenn served in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1965, and was later a test pilot and joining the United States space program in 1959. He was selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts. In February 1962, Glenn became the first American...

Project Mercury (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6129mmr (corporateBody)

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the U.S. Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted twenty unmanned developmental flights (some using animals), and six successful flights by astronauts. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury...

Flickinger, Donald (Donald Davis), 1907-1997

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63s6w4h (person)