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Man In Space Soonest ( MISS ) was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to put a man into outer space before the Soviet Union . The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced by NASA 's Project Mercury . Only two men from the program would actually reach outer space. The first, Joseph A. Walker , did so two or three times (depending on the definition of the space border ) in X-15 rocket plane tests in 1963. The other, Neil Armstrong , became a NASA astronaut in 1962, flew on Gemini 8 in 1966, and in 1969 on Apollo 11 becoming the first person to walk on the Moon .

Astronaut candidates [ edit ]

MISS would have used a Thor booster, then later an Atlas , to launch a single-man spacecraft into orbit. On June 25, 1958, the Air Force announced the following nine men selected to be astronauts for the program: ^[1]

• Neil A. Armstrong (1930?2012), 27, NACA . The only member of the group to join the NASA Astronaut Corps . Flew on Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 missions; performed the first docking of two spacecraft, was the first?along with Buzz Aldrin ?to land on the Moon , and was the first person to set foot on the Moon.
• William B. Bridgeman (1916?1968), 42, Douglas Aircraft Company
• A. Scott Crossfield (1921?2006), 36, North American Aviation (NAA)
• Iven C. Kincheloe (1928?1958), 29, USAF
• John B. McKay (1922?1975), 35, NACA
• Robert A. Rushworth (1924?1993), 33, USAF
• Joseph A. Walker (1921?1966), 37, NACA. The first member of the group to achieve outer space according to the FAI , and to enter space twice, on two X-15 test flights.
• Alvin S. White (1918?2006), 39, NAA
• Robert M. White (1924?2010), 33, USAF. The first member of the group to achieve outer space according to the USAF .

See also [ edit ]

• List of astronauts by selection
• Project Mercury
• Vostok Program

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Man in Space Soonest .

• Encyclopedia Astronautica entry .
• Reichhardt, Tony (September 2000). "First Up?" . Air & Space/Smithsonian . Retrieved May 23, 2021 .
• Man In Space Soonest? (NASA History)