Man in Space Soonest

"MISS" redirects here. For other uses, seeMISS (disambiguation).

Man In Space Soonest(MISS) was aUnited States Air Force(USAF) program to put amanintoouter spacebefore theSoviet Union.The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced byNASA'sProject 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 thespace border) inX-15rocket plane tests in 1963. The other,Neil Armstrong,became aNASA astronautin 1962, flew onGemini 8in 1966, and in 1969 onApollo 11becoming the first person to walk on theMoon.

Astronaut candidates

Spacecraft proposals from different companies.

MISS would have used aThorbooster, then later anAtlas,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:

• Neil A. Armstrong(1930–2012), 27,NACA.The only member of the group to join theNASA Astronaut Corps.Flew onGemini 8andApollo 11missions; performed the first docking of two spacecraft, was the first—along withBuzz Aldrin—to land on theMoon,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 theFAI,and to enter space twice, on twoX-15test 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 theUSAF.

See also

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

External links

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