"Crossfield, White, Walker, Armstrong,- they no longer had time to even about the Mercury mission." What is project mercury? It was the mission in which USA tried to get their astronauts to space and orbit earth. It took place from 1959 to 1963 done by NASA.NASA had to select 7 astronaut from more than a million of pilot .  They had to select people from some specific size so that they could get into the space shuttle which was too small to get people who where taller than the height 5 feet 11 inches. They had to be able to pass the entire test. They had tests like their health test, they would see if the astronaut could handle the G force from the rocket, They would put people into different rooms to see what they do when they are in zero gravity or when the oxygen level is down. They would note everything including their the number of time they scratched their nose, body how they moved etc. It took them two years to select a seven for the best pilots for the mercury mission. The seven astronauts the selected were, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom, Malcolm Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Donald Slayton. They started the mission by sending 2 monkey into space Albert 1 and 2 to see if they survive or not. Alan Shepard was the first American to go to space followed by Grissom after him John Glen, after him Carpenter after him schirra, after him Cooper. Slayton could not go on any of the mercury mission because of an erratic heart rate but would go to space at the age of 51.