Last of NASA's Original Pilot Astronauts

In this latest Pioneers in Early Spaceflight book, the astronaut NASA selections of the late 1960s evolved from two very different requirements. The first by NASA was to prepare crewmembers for an expected increase in flights after the first lunar landings, and the second was by the USAF to prepare crewmembers for a proposed military space station. Though both requirements were to change by the late 1960s, both selections were to provide key support and direct involvement during the transition from Apollo to shuttle and in leading managerial positions during the 1990s. These selections, as a group, have been overlooked in accounts of early space explorer involvement in pioneering programs of the first 50 years of human spaceflight exploration. This book addresses that oversight and presents an informative and in-depth account of their involvement in the space program. The background explains why these men were selected at a time of significant change at both NASA and the USAF. By blending both the NASA selection in 1966 and the three MOL groups and their transition to NASA in 1969 it is possible to get perspective on these changes as well as provide a comparison with the Soviet program, which after losing the Moon landing opted for space station development of a scientific and military nature. The findings are supported with research and interviews by both authors over many years, as well as with NASA original documentation. Contemporary accounts and first-hand interviews with many of the participants offers a fresh and unique approach to recording the 30-year story of these astronauts and how their involvement extended from the pioneering years of Gemini to the forward-looking creation of the International Space Station. This book offers a completion to the story of the first American astronaut selections, complementing not only the books on the first three NASA groups by Colin Burgess but also the book on the two scientist astronaut group selections by both authors, and other titles in the Praxis/Springer space library.