From Peter Stickney:
In article Ryczc.714922$Pk3.101441@pd7tw1no,
Dave Michelson writes:
Mary Shafer wrote:

The X-15 was an NACA/NASA project that the USAF participated in. It was
never a USAF project. Instead it was always a joint NASA/USAF project,
except early on when it was an NACA/USAF project.

Actually, it was a joint NASA/USAF/USN project, although the USAF took a much
larger and more visible role. And it was a strictly NACA project until July
1954, when the services signed on :-)

In fact, the first ever U.S. (preliminary) astronaut selection was
announced in a USAF briefing concerning MISS on 25 June 1958. The list
included test pilots Robert Walker, Scott Crossfield, Neil Armstrong,
Robert Rushworth, William Bridgeman, Alvin White, Iven Kincheloe, Robert
White, and Jack McKay.


I fail to see how the projection of names on a slide constitutes an
announcement of a preliminary astronaut selection.


I suggest the possibility that these names were used as mere
placeholders for some future selection. The people being briefed
needed to pin down an anthropomorphic design point that would scale
the capsule design which would then drive the choice of boosters.

(For all I know, the "selection" was accomplished by an airman
one-striper who had been ordered to cull names from a list of test
pilots so that the graph could be made.)

Here is a pertinent quote:

"On June 25 and 26, the ARPA Man in Space Panel sponsored a meeting in
Washington for representatives from Headquarters ARDC, the Ballistic
Missile Division, Convair, Lockheed, Space Technology Laboratories,
and NACA. The meeting was called to resolve such outstanding questions
as the relationship between payload weight and the lifting
capabilities of various booster systems, booster reliability, and
ablation versus heat sink thermal protection techniques. The gathering
produced little specific technical agreement."
(http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/Hi...4201/ch4-4.htm)


Scotty, Neil, and Jack were civilians, not military.

So was Bill Bridgeman, who was a Company Test Pilot for Douglas.

Who said they were military? BTW, mention of this "preliminary selection"
is mentioned in, among other places,

NASM Air & Space Magazine
http://www.airspacemag.com/asm/mag/i.../AS/First.html

I'm glad to see that the Smithsonian refuses to take the leap of
calling this slide an astronaut selection - preliminary, or any other
type.

Compare to www.astronautix.com/flights/manonest.htm -

"This was the first preliminary astronaut selection in history."

I've seen absolutely no authority to back that up. Perhaps Mark Wade
is privy to information that the Smithsonian doesn't have access to.


Until I see further evidence, I will weight the significance of that
list the same way NASM did:

"On this particular summer day, to this particular briefer, these nine
guys seemed most likely to become the first people in orbit."


....or even *less so*. After all, I cannot even see the grounds for
Tony Reichhardt to conclude that the briefer (or whoever made that
slide) chose those individuals for any other reason than to provide a
spectrum of heights and weights for the benefit of the booster
engineers in the audience. Here is the exact quote from Reichhardt's
NASM article:

The briefing chart, once stamped "SECRET" but now turning
yellow in a NASA archive, shows a smooth curve with the
names of nine test pilots plotted according to their
weights. At the lower end, between 150 and 175 pounds,
are Bob Walker, Scott Crossfield, Neil Armstrong, and
Robert Rushworth. Sloping from there up to 200 pounds,
straining the limit of how much human payload an Atlas
rocket could lift into space, are Bill Bridgeman, Alvin
White, Iven Kincheloe, Bob White, and Jack McKay. The
top of the chart reads "CREWMAN AVAILABILITY."


Going by this, it seems to be a misinterpretation to read -crewman
availability- as stating, "Here is my preliminary selection." It's a
long way from -availability- to -selection-.

It seems more likely that the presenter intended to communicate
something more along the lines of, "Here is the spectrum of sandbags
you have to plug into your capsule. Now go design the rocket."


~ CT