A cross July 14-15, 1965 (depending on your time zone), the Mariner 4 mission was doing something incredible. This early NASA ...

NASA announced the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts on April 9, 1959. The group was quickly dubbed the “Mercury Seven,” as the men were chosen for Project Mercury. The ...

In December 1959, Popular Mechanics spent a week with the Mercury 7 astronauts and witnessed the beginning of U.S. human spaceflight.

Here, on the 55th anniversary of the day — April 9, 1959 — that the seven were introduced to America, LIFE.com offers a gallery of photos taken in the early days of Project Mercury.

On January 9, 1959, NASA selected the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to develop the Mercury spacecraft, which would later carry the first American astronauts into space, Alan Shepard and Virgil ...

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order authorizing the seal in November 1959, around the same time that NASA's first orders for stationery, lapel pins and decals with Modarelli's ...

1959: The first seven astronauts selected to participate in NASA’s Project Mercury are introduced by the space agency at a press conference in Washington. Dubbed the “Mercury Seven” by the ...

Fifty-five years ago today, on April 9, 1959, NASA introduced America's first seven astronauts, the Mercury 7, to the public. The Mercury 7 were military test pilots with college degrees in ...

Mercury Astronauts Meet the Press, 1959. When the John Glenn cracked up the audience with his answer. (Watch the entire press conference at NASA's 50 anniversary site).

In August 1959, an unmanned satellite called Explorer 6 took the first photos of Earth from space, ... Image source, NASA. Image caption, This is the spacecraft which took the photo.