Tales Of The Magnificent 'Mercury Seven'.
In 1959, seven US military fighter pilots were selected to train as America's first astronauts. Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton would become known as the Mercury Seven (M7). These men, who had jockeyed for the best flying jobs in the military, began com-peting for rides on rockets. Most would eventually vie for the ultimate ride to the moon.
The author Ed Buckbee, who has enjoyed a 40+ year association with the US manned space flight program, follows these brave men who pioneered the US space program. Through time and personal friend-ships, he captures dreams of flying higher, faster and farther than any-one in the known universe. Readers are invited behind the scenes to witness the competition between chimpanzees and astronauts, and the conflict between NASA engineers designing capsules and those who would pilot them.
