The original seven Mercury astronauts during training at NASA Langley Research Center. From left to right, back row they are Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper; front row, Walter Schirra, Donald "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. The suits were the ones used by the astronaults during their Mercury space flights. While familiarizing the astronauts with the Mercury set-up, Langley employees helped them to specialize in the technical areas crucial to the overall success of Project Mercury. Langley people also guided and monitored the astronauts activities through the many spaceflight simulators and other training devices built at the Center expressly for the manned space program. In less than three years, Project Mercury proved that men could be sent into space and returned safely to Earth, setting the stage for the longer duration Gemini flights and the Apollo lunar landings.
