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In 1958, NASA initiated Project Mercury, its first manned space mission. Naturally, a manned mission needed astronauts. The men who flew on the six Mercury flights were the pioneers of the space program, and the project even coined the term 'astronaut' to describe American space travelers.
How did NASA select the astronauts? According to Popular Science, it was through a series of intense tests that gauged their physical, mental, and intellectual readiness for space. The magazine recently recreated a portion of these tests, allowing you to see if you had what it took to be part of the project.
The five tests Popular Science presents are just a small glimpse into the extensive selection process. Of the 508 military pilots who were initially considered, NASA aimed to find six astronauts who were the healthiest, brightest, most dedicated, and most psychologically stable individuals. The selection process was so difficult that they ended up picking seven astronauts instead. Here’s a brief description of how NASA describes this process:
Along with tests for pressure suits, acceleration, vibration, heat, and loud noises, candidates had to demonstrate their physical endurance on treadmills, tilt tables, by submerging their feet in ice water, and by inflating balloons until they were exhausted. They also underwent continuous psychiatric interviews, spent a week with two psychologists, and completed 13 psychological assessments for personality and motivation, in addition to over a dozen tests measuring intellectual abilities and special aptitudes. All of this was part of the intense week of truth.
Ultimately, seven astronauts remained: Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, and Deke Slayton. Could you have made the cut? While you might not be able to try out the pressure suit endurance test, you can still tackle a few of the psychological evaluations, such as spatial visualization, mechanical comprehension, hidden figures, progressive matrices, and analogies.
To put your skills to the test, visit our friends at Popular Science.
