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Walker Joseph Crossfield Armstrong Rushworth Bridgeman White Alvin Kincheloe White Robert McKay

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25 June 1958 00:00 GMT. (Cancelled flight). Crew: Walker Joseph, Crossfield, Armstrong, Rushworth, Bridgeman, White Alvin, Kincheloe, White Robert, McKay. In a US Air Force briefing a preliminary astronaut selection for the Man-In-Space Soonest project is made. The list consisted of USAF test pilots Robert Walker, Scott Crossfield, Neil Armstrong, Robert Rushworth, William Bridgeman, Alvin White, Iven Kincheloe, Robert White, and Jack McKay. This was the first preliminary astronaut selection in history. The project was cancelled when NASA was formed in and took responsibility for all manned space flight on 1 August 1958. Prospective contractors estimated it would take from 12 to 30 months to put the first American in orbit. In retrospect the orbital flight portion of NASA's Mercury program was paced by the availability of the Atlas booster. Therefore it is unlikely Man-in-Space-Soonest would have put an American in orbit any earlier than Mercury.

• 1958 Jun 25 - Man-In-Space-Soonest  Crew: Walker Joseph, Crossfield, Armstrong, Rushworth, Bridgeman, White Alvin, Kincheloe, White Robert, McKay. Spacecraft: Project 7969.

  In a US Air Force briefing a preliminary astronaut selection for the Man-In-Space Soonest project is made. The list consisted of USAF test pilots Robert Walker, Scott Crossfield, Neil Armstrong, Robert Rushworth, William Bridgeman, Alvin White, Iven Kincheloe, Robert White, and Jack McKay. This was the first preliminary astronaut selection in history. The project was cancelled when NASA was formed in and took responsibility for all manned space flight on 1 August 1958. Prospective contractors estimated it would take from 12 to 30 months to put the first American in orbit. In retrospect the orbital flight portion of NASA's Mercury program was paced by the availability of the Atlas booster. Therefore it is unlikely Man-in-Space-Soonest would have put an American in orbit any earlier than Mercury.

• Reichhardt, Tony, Air and Space, "First Up?", August/September 2000. Accessed at: http://www.airspacemag.com/asm/mag/index/2000/AS/First.html.