The rest of the Mercury 7

Hey everyone,

Of the original Mercury 7, six would be the first Americans into space. One man, Deke Slayton would not fly on those initial six flights. He would be grounded for atrial fibrillation, but he would continue to work for NASA as the head of astronaut selection. However, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, and L. Gordon Cooper. All of them would orbit, but Carpenter would miss his landing by 250 miles and never fly a spacecraft again due to a grounding injury. At one point, they were worried that he'd become the first casualty in space, but he located eventually. Many blamed him for the overshot, but this is still debated. Schirra would fly a near flawless mission and continue on in the space program. Cooper would fly the last Mercury mission on March 15, 1963. He slept during the countdown and would be the first American to sleep in space during his 34 hour mission. He too would continue in the space program in project Gemini.