Bill TaubPortrait of The Original Seven Mercury astronauts in flight suits, standing by a Convair 106-B aircraft at Langley Air Force Base20 January 1961Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper, 25.3 x 20.5 cm (10 x 8 in), BLACK NUMBERED NASA G-61-201, with a NASA caption on versoFootnotes: This photograph, taken on the date Alan Shepard was selected to be the first American to be sent into space, shows, from left to right, the Group 1 astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgill Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. Known as the Original Seven, the first seven NASA astronauts selected from over 500 military applicants for their superb physical specimen with an IQ above 130, and the ability to function well both as part of a team and solo