Would you have what it takes to be NASA ’s first astronaut ? Now ’s your chance to find out with this interactive quiz .
Back in the late 1950s , NASA waslooking forthe in force of the in force to form the first - ever class of US astronauts . They depart by gathering over 500 military service records of the Air Force ’s most stand - out test pilot , from which 110 candidates were assembled . After an intense stream of interview and write trial run , the NASA selection citizens committee abridge them down to 32 . A last set of psychological , intellectual , and forcible exams then whittle them down to just seven . These blue-ribbon few came to be known as theMercury Seven : Scott Carpenter , Alan Shepard , John Glenn , Deke Slayton , Gus Grissom , Wally Schirra , and Gordon Cooper .
Would you have " the proper poppycock " to make it this far ? For starters , all candidates had to be younger than 35 , have a scientific or engineering college degree , weigh less than81 kilo ( 180 pounds),have 1,500 flight of stairs hour under their belt , and be under 180 cm ( 5 feet 11 inches ) tall ( NASA was very disturbed about elbow room in the ballistic capsule ) .
If you manage to fit these fabulously specific criterion , then next you need to prove that your physical physical fitness is crown - top . All nominee had to have absolutely no hint of underlie physical or mental wellness consideration . NASA was alsoparticularly obsessiveabout their candidates experience very study nitty-gritty and fantabulous cardiovascular health . Slayton , one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronaut , was finally cut from the programme in 1961 when it was revealed he had a slimly planetary heartbeat .
While we ca n’t commend many of the physical and psychological exam – namely lashings of stress tests in isolated chamber and extremely blistering , dusty , or cramp environments – you may undertake some of the intelligence trial used to appraise the would - be spacemen ’s problem - solving skills , genial abstract thought , form recognition , and oecumenical intellect .
As first reported byPopular Science , check out the five quiz below , featuring question inspired by the 1958 - 1959 Mercury Seven selection program . Some of the questions are comparatively painless in high spirits - school physic questions , others will make your head carry out some lateral intellection and obscure reasoning .
[ H / T : Popular Science ]
