THE SEVEN CHOSEN

Monday, Apr. 20, 1959

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BECAUSE of the demands of their assignment the seven Mercury Astronauts have age, size and background generally in common. But equally important are their dissimilarities, for the Astronauts are individualists all.

John Herschel Glenn Jr., 37, Marine lieutenant colonel; 180 lbs, 5 ft. 10½ in., green eyes, red hair (thinning in front). Presbyterian (Sunday school teacher). Born: Cambridge. Ohio; attended Muskingum College at New Concord, Ohio (1939-42), but quit to enter service in 1942. Glenn is the Astronauts' top-ranking, most experienced officer (more than 5,000 flight hours, 1,500 in jets), has seen the most combat (59 World War II fighter-bomber missions in the Pacific, 100 missions, three MIGs downed in Korea), carries the weightiest decorations (five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 19 Air Medals), is the most famed of the lot (he won headlines in 1957 as the first man to fly supersonically from Los Angeles to New York—piloting a Chance Vought F8U in 3 hr., 23 min.—later won $25,000 on TV's Name That Tune), probably has the most space savvy (McDonnell Aircraft consulted him in blueprinting Project Mercury's space capsule). He is also the champion humorist of the fast-cracking group, says: "I'm probably doing this because it is the nearest to heaven I'll ever get." His wife's opinions? "She thinks I'm just about out of this world anyway. I might as well go all the way."

Malcolm Scott Carpenter, 33, Navy lieutenant, 160 lbs., 5 ft. 10½ in., green eyes, brown hair. Episcopalian. Born: Boulder, Colo.; graduated University of Colorado, '49 (aeronautical engineering). Scott Carpenter went back into the Navy in 1949 to complete flight training interrupted at World War II's end, logged part of his 2,800 flight hours (300 in jets) in Korean combat (aerial mining, antisub patrols), then went through Navy Test Pilot School, General Line School, Air Intelligence School, became air intelligence officer of the carrier Hornet. He recalls: "When I was notified that I was being considered [for Mercury], I was at sea, and so my wife called Washington and volunteered for me."

Walter Marty Schirra Jr., 36, Navy lieutenant commander, 185 lbs., 5 ft. 10 in., brown eyes, brown hair. Episcopalian. Born: Hackensack, N.J.; graduated U.S. Naval Academy, '45 (215th in a class of 1,045). Wally Schirra, son of a World War I ace, learned to fly a plane as a youngster ("It was in the family"), has logged 3,000 military flight hours (1,700 in jets). He flew 90 Korean combat missions (one MIG downed, one Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Medals), served in peacetime as a Navy carrier flight instructor, as a test pilot helped develop a whole family of transonic jets: the Cutlass, the Fury, the Demon. Most recent assignment: test pilot for the new Mach 2 F4H McDonnell fighter. Last week Schirra's son, Marty, 8, chortled to his third-grade classmates: "My Dad is going on a rocket to the moon!" Replied a friend nonchalantly: "Have him bring me back a piece of green cheese."