Personal Recollections of the Selection
of the First Seven Astronauts.
Continued...

Duties and Qualifications

By January 5,1959, all the necessary decisions for our astronaut search had been made. The arguments were over, the gaps in information had been filled, the dust was settled. At last we knew what the duties and the qualifications were.

The astronauts’ duties were to be as follows, according to our final official list:

To survive; that is, to demonstrate the ability of man to fly in space and to return safely.

To perform; that is, to demonstrate man’s capacity to act usefully under conditions of space flight.

To serve as backup for the automatic controls and instrumentation; that is, to add reliability to the system, and take control if necessary or desirable.

To serve as scientific observer; that is, to go beyond what instruments and satellites can report.

To serve as an engineering observer and, acting as a true test pilot, to help improve the flight system and its components.

The qualification requirements were in two sets. The first set included those that were relatively easy to check from available records. They were:

Age no more than 35. A couple of weeks later we had to raise this to age 39 because we found that there were just not enough of the very best men who were that young but had all the education and experience we were looking for.

Height no more than five feet eleven inches. This requirement was set by the size of the space capsule.

A college degree in engineering or science. We had no phrase “or equivalent” because we needed an easy “in-or-out” due to the hundreds of personnel records to be scanned. [1]

Minimum flight time 1500 hours, including substantial time in piloting high-performance jets.

Graduate of a test pilot school.

Test piloting experience with experimental aircraft, not just proving out production planes off the assembly line.

Medical record showing no major physical, physiological, medical, or behavioral problems.

Evidence of high-quality performance, such as high class standing in test-pilot school; complexity and power of experimental planes flown; selection for particularly difficult or hazardous assignments; record of combat missions (if any); awards and commendations; favorable remarks of superiors found in the records, etc.
The other requirements would have to await individual interviews and testing. They were:

Top-flight physical condition.

High intelligence.

Capacity to withstand high levels of environmental stress; toughness; resilience.

Perceptual and motor skills of a high order.

Emotional and psychological stability; strong competitive drive, combined with a cooperative teamwork spirit; maturity; and a sense of humor—if detectable.

Personable in appearance, manner, and speech.

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