Chapter 5: Measuring the man

Theme: November 1958 through March 1959. This chapter gives the story of the selection program.

Human behavior viewed under the stress and confusion of day to day activities often seems impossibly complex, if not entirely irrational. But Freud had the fundamental insight into the problem. He pointed out that if human behavior seemed incomprehensible, it was only because we had not probed deep enough, had not detected the basic driving force producing the seemingly irrational actions. Modern psychology must be based on the principle that all behavior can be as completely understood, and as clearly explained as why an automobile moves forward when pressure is applied to the gas pedal. If this is not possible now, it is only because the human mechanism is so exceedingly complex. If it is true that knowing the right facts, we can predict behavior, then we should be able to predict who can live and make decisions alone, and who can think and act effectively in the face of danger. In the past we have attempted to do this in our selection programs for soldiers and aviators, secret service operators and submariners. From this experience the Project Mercury team derived the basic procedures to be used in the selection program for the astronauts.

We began by considering the number of astronauts which would be needed and the professional groups from which they might be drawn. Several different approaches to the solicitation of candidates were discussed through the fall of 1958. An initial plan was referred to the White House, where it was rejected. We were ordered to keep the program secret. This required limiting the selection program to members of the military services, who could be interviewed secretly.

During the first weeks of January 1959 a selection board reviewed the records of 502 military test pilots and selected the 110 pilots who met five basic requirements: age 39 or below, height 5’11” or less, a graduate of test pilot school, a jet qualified pilot with at least 1000 hours of flight time, a college graduate with a B.S. or equivalent degree in science or engineering. These pilots were invited by their services to come to the Pentagon to receive a briefing on Project Mercury, and to be interviewed by members of the Space Task Group. Thirty-two were selected for further processing. They were sent to the Lovelace Clinic for a week of detailed physiological examinations and then on to Wright Field Aeromedical Laboratory for a week of psychological and “stress tests”. The results of these tests were summarized and reviewed at the Space Task Group at Langley Field in the last days of March 1959. In all, eighteen men were found medically qualified without reservation. From them the seven Mercury astronauts were chosen.