NASA Astronaut Group 2

NASA Astronaut Group 2 (nicknamed the "Next Nine" and the "New Nine") was the second group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Their selection was announced on September 17, 1962. The group augmented the Mercury Seven. President John F. Kennedy had announced Project Apollo, on May 25, 1961, with the ambitious goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, and more astronauts were required to fly the two-man Gemini spacecraft and three-man Apollo spacecraft then under development. The Mercury Seven had been selected to accomplish the simpler task of orbital flight, but the new challenges of space rendezvous and lunar landing led to the selection of candidates with advanced engineering degrees (for four of the nine) as well as test pilot experience.

The nine astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White, and John Young. The Next Nine were the first astronaut group to include civilian test pilots: See had flown for General Electric, and Armstrong had flown the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft for NASA. Six of the nine flew to the Moon (Lovell and Young twice), and Armstrong, Conrad, and Young walked on it as well. Seven of the nine were awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Lovell was the last surviving member of the group and died on August 7, 2025, at the age of 97.

Background

thumb|"[[We choose to go to the Moon": President John F. Kennedy speaks on the nation's space effort at Rice University in Houston, on September 12, 1962]]

The launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, started a Cold War technological and ideological competition with the United States known as the Space Race. The demonstration of American technological inferiority came as a profound shock to the American public. In response to the Sputnik crisis, a new civilian agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was created to oversee an American space program. The Space Task Group (STG) at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, created an American crewed spaceflight project called Project Mercury. The selection of the first astronauts, known as the "Original Seven" or "Mercury Seven", was announced on April 9, 1959.

By 1961, although it was yet to launch a person into space, the STG was confident that Project Mercury had overcome its initial setbacks, and that the United States had overtaken the Soviet Union as the most advanced nation in space technology. The STG began considering Mercury Mark II, a two-person successor to the Mercury spacecraft. This confidence was shattered on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet Union launched Vostok 1, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth. In response, President John F. Kennedy announced a far more ambitious goal on May 25, 1961: to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. The effort to land a man on the Moon already had a name: Project Apollo. The two-person Mercury II spacecraft concept was formally announced by the STG head, Robert R. Gilruth, on December 7, 1961, and on January 3, 1962, it was officially named Project Gemini.

On April 18, 1962, NASA formally announced that it was accepting applications for a new group of astronauts who would assist the Mercury astronauts with Project Mercury, and join them in flying Project Gemini missions. It was anticipated that they might go on to command Project Apollo missions. Unlike the selection process for the Mercury Seven, which was carried out in secret, this selection was widely advertised; public announcements and the minimum standards were communicated to aircraft companies, government agencies and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Selection criteria

The five minimum selection criteria were that an applicant:

was an experienced test pilot, with 1,500 hours test pilot flying time, who had graduated from a military test pilot school, or had test pilot experience with NASA or the aircraft industry;
had flown high-performance jet aircraft;
had earned a degree in engineering or the physical or biological sciences;
was a U.S. citizen, under 35 years of age, and or less in height; and
was recommended by his employer.

The criteria differed from those of the Mercury Seven selection in several ways. The Gemini spacecraft was expected to be roomier than the Mercury one, so the height requirement was relaxed slightly. This made Thomas P. Stafford eligible. A college degree was now required, but could be in the biological sciences. Civilian test pilots were now eligible, but the requirement for experience in high-performance jets favored those with recent experience, and fighter pilots over those with multi-engine experience such as Scott Carpenter of the Mercury Seven. The age limit was lowered from 40 to 35 because whereas Mercury was a short-term project, Project Apollo was going to run until the end of the decade at least. The changed selection criteria meant that the selection panel could not simply select another group from the Mercury Seven finalists.

At this time, Jerrie Cobb, a female award-winning pilot, was pressing for women to be allowed to become astronauts. In 1961 she was one of thirteen women known as the Mercury 13 who had passed the same medical evaluation tests given to the Mercury Seven astronauts as part of a USAF project that assessed the capability of women for spaceflight. Although women were not prevented from applying to become NASA astronauts in 1962, the requirement for jet test pilot experience effectively excluded them. NASA Administrator James E. Webb made this point in a statement to the press in spring 1962, adding: "I do not think we shall be anxious to put a woman or any other person of particular race or creed into orbit just for the purpose of putting them there."

Selection process

The U.S. Navy (USN) and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) submitted the names of all their applicants who met the selection criteria, but the U.S. Air Force (USAF) conducted its own internal selection process, and it only submitted the names of eleven candidates. The Air Force ran them through a brief training course in May 1962 on how to speak and conduct themselves during the NASA selection process. The candidates called it a "charm school". General Curtis LeMay told them:

In all, 253 applications were received by the June 1, 1962, deadline. Neil Armstrong submitted his application a week after the deadline, but Walter C. Williams, the associate director of the Space Task Group, wanted Armstrong for the space program, so he had Richard Day, who acted as secretary of the selection panel, add it to the pile of applications when it arrived. Paul Bikle, the director of the NASA's Flight Research Center, and therefore Armstrong's boss, declined to recommend Armstrong for astronaut selection because he had misgivings about his performance.

thumb|upright=1.5|left|The first two groups of astronauts selected by NASA. The Mercury Seven are seated at the front, with the Next Nine standing behind them.

The three-person selection panel consisted of Mercury Seven astronauts Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, and NASA test pilot Warren J. North, although Williams sat in on some sessions. They reduced the candidates to 32 finalists, from whom they hoped to select between five and ten new astronauts. Nine of the USAF's eleven candidates were chosen as finalists, and one of those rejected, Joe Engle, was selected with NASA Astronaut Group 5 in 1966. Of the rest, thirteen were from the Navy, four were Marines, and six were civilians. Four had been finalists in the Mercury Seven selection: Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, John Mitchell and Robert Solliday. Lovell had not been selected for the Mercury Seven due to a high bilirubin blood count.

The finalists were sent to Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio for medical examinations. The tests there were much the same as those employed to select the Mercury Seven. One candidate was found to be too tall. Another four were eliminated on the basis of ear, nose and throat examinations. The remaining 27 then went to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, where the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) was being established. They were individually interviewed by the selection panel.

Nine candidates were selected, and their names forwarded to Gilruth for approval. Slayton informed each of them by phone on September 14. The nine were Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White, and John Young. They arrived in Houston on September 15. To avoid tipping off the media, all checked into the Rice Hotel in Houston under the name of Max Peck, its general manager. On September 17, the media crowded into the 1800-seat Cullen Auditorium at the University of Houston for the official announcement, but it was a more low-key event than the unveiling of the Mercury Seven three years before.

As with those who had been passed over in the Mercury Seven selection, most of the rejected finalists went on to have distinguished careers. Three achieved flag rank: William E. Ramsey became a vice admiral in the Navy, William H. Fitch a lieutenant general in the Marine Corps and Kenneth Weir, a major general in the Marine Corps. Four would become NASA astronauts in later selections: Alan Bean, Michael Collins and Richard Gordon in 1963, and Jack Swigert in 1966. Francis G. Neubeck was selected as an astronaut for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, but never flew in space.

Demographics

Like the Mercury Seven, all of the Next Nine were male and white, and all were married, with an average of two children. Conrad, Lovell and Young were from the Navy; Borman, McDivitt, Stafford and White from the Air Force; and Armstrong and See were civilians, although both had served in the Navy. All were test pilots, and Borman and McDivitt were also early graduates of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS).

Their average age at the time of selection was 33 years and one month, compared to 34 years and ten months for the Mercury Seven when they were selected in April 1959. They had an average of 2,800 flying hours each, 1,900 of them in jets. This was 700 fewer flying hours than the Mercury Seven, but 200 more hours in jets. Their average weight was slightly higher – compared to . Their mean IQ was 132 on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. All had earned Bachelor of Science degrees. Three had Master of Science degrees in aeronautical engineering: Borman from the California Institute of Technology, See from the University of California at Los Angeles, and White from University of Michigan.

Group members

{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"

|+ Next Nine astronauts

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Image

! scope="col" | Name

! scope="col" | Born

! scope="col" | Died

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Mission(s)

! scope="col" style="min-width: 150px;" | Career

! scope="col" class="unsortable" |

| 120px|alt=Portrait

|data-sort-value=Armstrong|Neil A. Armstrong

|data-sort-value=|Wapakoneta, Ohio,<br />August 5, 1930

| |Fairfield, Ohio,<br />August 25, 2012

| <div style="display: flex; align-items: center; white-space: nowrap; gap: 5px;">50px|link=Gemini 850px|link=Apollo 11</div>

|Armstrong graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. He flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War as a naval aviator, and then became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the forerunner of NASA) at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, where he flew the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft. He made his first spaceflight as commander of Gemini 8 in March 1966, becoming NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space. During this mission with pilot David Scott, he performed the first docking of two spacecraft, but the mission was aborted after Armstrong was compelled to use some of his re-entry control fuel to address a dangerous roll caused by a stuck thruster. During training for his second and last spaceflight, as commander of Apollo 11, he ejected from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle moments before a crash. In July 1969, he and his lunar module pilot, Buzz Aldrin, became the first people to land on the Moon. Armstrong was the first person to step onto its surface, and he spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft. He earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970. He resigned from NASA in 1971, and taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati until 1979. He served on the Apollo 13 accident investigation, and on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

| 120px|alt=Portrait

|data-sort-value=Conrad|Charles (Pete) Conrad Jr.

|data-sort-value=|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,<br />June 2, 1930

| |Ojai, California,<br />July 8, 1999

|Conrad graduated from Princeton University in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. He joined the Navy and became a naval aviator. In 1958, he graduated from the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Patuxent, Maryland as part of Class 20. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with his command pilot, Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, on his first spaceflight, the Gemini 5 mission in August 1965. The following year he commanded the Gemini 11 mission, on which he and pilot Dick Gordon set an altitude record of . He became the third person to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 12 in 1969 after landing the lunar module Intrepid in the Ocean of Storms. He and pilot Alan Bean made two moonwalks, recovering components from the Surveyor 3 probe, which had landed there two years before. In 1973 he commanded Skylab 2, the first crewed Skylab mission, and spent 28 more days in space. On this mission, he and his crewmates repaired significant launch damage to the Skylab space station. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973.

|120px|alt=Portrait

|data-sort-value=White|Edward H. White II

|data-sort-value= |San Antonio, Texas,<br />November 14, 1930

| |Cape Canaveral, Florida,<br />January 27, 1967

| <div style="display: flex; align-items: center; white-space: nowrap; gap: 5px;">45px|link=Gemini 4 45px|link=Apollo 1</div>

|White received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating with the Class of 1952. He joined the USAF and became a fighter pilot. He earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1959. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School with Class 59-C. In June 1965, he flew on Gemini 4 as its pilot, during which he conducted the first American spacewalk. He was selected as the Senior Pilot of Apollo 1, the inaugural flight of the Apollo spacecraft. White was killed in the fire on the launch pad test in January 1967, a month before the scheduled liftoff.

In Zero-G training at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio on May 20, 1963, each the Next Nine astronauts flew two flights in a reduced-gravity aircraft, a modified KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft. Each flight flew 20 parabolas that gave them between 20 and 30 seconds of weightlessness. Jungle survival training was conducted for all sixteen Mercury Seven and Next Nine astronauts at the USAF Tropic Survival School at Albrook Air Force Station in Panama in June. This was the first time that the two groups had trained together. This was followed in August by desert survival training at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada, and field exercises at Carson Sink. Each astronaut had to survive on of water and the food in their spacecraft survival packs. In September, all sixteen were given instruction in parachute landings on land and water, but only the Next Nine attended the second phase of the program, water survival training on the Dilbert Dunker at the USN school at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and on Galveston Bay.

Following the precedent set by the Mercury Seven, each of the Next Nine was assigned a special area in which to develop expertise that could be shared with the others, and to provide astronaut input to designers and engineers. Armstrong was responsible for trainers and simulators; Borman for boosters, with special responsibility for abort systems; Conrad for cockpit layout, pilot controls and systems integration; Lovell for recovery systems, including the parachutes, paraglider and lunar module; McDivitt for guidance and navigation systems; See for electrical systems and coordination of mission planning; Stafford for communications systems, mission control and the ground support network; White for flight control systems, and Young for environmental control systems, survival gear, personal equipment and space suits.

Legacy

thumb|right|President [[Ronald Reagan presents John Young with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor as well as NASA's Distinguished Service Medal.]]

Collins wrote that in his opinion "this group of nine was the best NASA ever picked, better than the seven that preceded it, or the fourteen, five, nineteen, eleven and seven that followed." Slayton felt so too, describing them as "probably the best all-round group ever put together." Looking over the tentative schedule of Apollo missions, Slayton calculated that up to 14 three-person crews might be required, but the 16 astronauts on hand could fill just five. Though he considered the schedule to be optimistic, he did not want a shortage of astronauts to be the reason the schedule could not be met, and he therefore proposed another round of recruiting. On June 5, 1963, NASA announced that it was seeking another ten to fifteen new astronauts.

The Next Nine went on to illustrious careers as astronauts. Apart from See and White, who were killed in a T-38 crash and in the Apollo fire, respectively, all went on to command Gemini and Apollo missions. Six of the nine flew to the Moon (Lovell and Young twice), and Armstrong, Conrad and Young walked on it as well. Seven of the nine received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for their service, valor, and sacrifice:

Armstrong, for commanding Apollo 11, the first lunar landing;
Borman, for commanding Apollo 8, the first crewed mission to the Moon;
Lovell, for commanding the ill-fated Apollo 13;
Stafford, for commanding the international Cold War Apollo-Soyuz Test Project;
White, posthumously, killed in the Apollo 1 fire; and
Young, for commanding the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, in the .