Project 7 Mercury Astronauts Signed Photograph.

SHEPARD, Alan. Gus Grissom.

Item Number: 89048

Original black and white photograph signed by the seven Mercury astronauts holding a model of the Mercury 7 spacecraft: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, and Leroy Gordon Cooper in the margin below the photograph. In near fine condition. Double matted and framed the photograph measures 9.5 inches by 7 inches. The entire piece measures 16 inches by 13 inches. Rare and desirable signed by each of the Original Seven.

"The first seven American astronauts were an admirable group of individuals chosen to sit at the apex of a pyramid of human effort… They chose to lead by following the opportunity that chance, circumstance, technology and history had prepared for them" (Swenson, Grimwood & Alexander). NASA introduced the seven astronauts in Washington on April 9, 1959. Although the agency viewed Project Mercury's purpose as an experiment to determine whether humans could survive space travel, the seven men immediately became national heroes and were compared by TIME magazine to "Columbus, Magellan, Daniel Boone, and the Wright brothers" (TIME 1959).