Chris Spencer, age 8, of Des Moines, Iowa, for his question:
How can a person become an astronaut?
The astronauts are heroes of the Space Age. Every young person dreams of becoming a hero. This is right and proper. Some of these dreams come true. Some fail, even after years of trying. Only a few boys and girls will become future astronauts. But now is the time to start hoping and planning.
Our first astronauts were chosen in the year before most of you second graders where born. Let's see what tests they had to pass. Those first tests have been changed a bit but a promising young astronaut needs to know what they were. Then let's find out what the experts think about training future astronauts. These future space heroes are still in grade school. Girls as well as boys can start hoping because when you grow up we expect to need both men and women trained to manage our voyaging space crafts.
The story of the first astronauts began in January, 1959. It began as a hush hush story and not many people knew what it was all about. America was getting ready to send aloft a manned spacecraft. The most suitable pilot had to be chosen to man it. Other manned space trips were to follow. So it was decided to choose six of the most suitable men and give them special training. The most likely place to find them was among our trained test pilots. These men were already experts at handling aircraft and supersonic jets.
So the records of 508 military test pilots were sifted and screened. The ones chosen were between ages 25 and 40, no taller than 5 ft. 11 inches and in excellent health. Their college work was equal to a Bachelor's Degree or better. Each must have graduated ' from a test pilot school and have a record of at least 1500 hours of flying time. The number of men with all these qualifications was 110. Of this group, 69 were invited to take some special hush hush training. But by then, six had grown too tall to qualify.
The rest were given batteries of written and physical tests, intelligence and aptitude tests. They were given 13 psychological tests to reveal why they had chosen to be test pilots, whether they could keep cool and solve sudden problems and whether they were the type of persons who could endure the cramped and lonely hours inside a spacecraft. Only 6 were needed, but 18 men came through. After more tests and interviews, it was possible to choose 7, all of them equally suitable. So the hush hush testing ended. On April 9, 1959, a press conference held in Washington D.C. to announce the names of our first astronauts. Then the chosen spacemen began their real training.
Future astronauts should be ready for all these tests and more besides. We still choose most of our spacemen from the best of our military test pilots. They are men who became pilots because they have a deep and lasting love of flying planes. Spacecraft, of course, are different. An astronaut is required to operate more complex gadgets and figure out scientific information. Most experts think that future astronauts will be expected to pass more tests in the sciences. So set your eye on a star. Get ready to pass all those tests and stay awake in all your science classes.
It is fine to dream and work to make it come true. Maybe thousands of young Americas will be able to pass all the tests. But America can use only a few astronauts at a time. You may fail through no fault of your own. After years of striving, your body may decide to grow too tall for the job. But this would not make a real astronaut type person mad or too sad. He knows that just by trying he made others try harder. Just by trying, he gave America a sharper group from which to choose our future astronauts.