Tom Wolfe, in his book "The Right Stuff, " about the original Mercury astronauts, wanted to describe for readers just what level of devotion the newly named astronauts had received from the American people.

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At the age of 25 after recovering two Mercury astronauts and keeping the Russian missiles out of Cuba he had to play the father role to a difficult 13 year old when our father died in 1965.

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Even the surviving Mercury astronauts--a plumpish Wally Schirra, a leathery Scott Carpenter, a frail Gordon Cooper--were there, showing the colors the way they always did when a member of their elite fraternity was setting out on a mission that would kill him or not, but in either event would provide him with that transcendent thrill he got nowhere else.

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The Mercury and Apollo astronauts were my heroes.

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In preparation, four Earth orbital Mercury launches (carrying one astronaut each), one suborbital and nine Earth orbital Gemini flights (two astronauts each), two Earth orbital Apollo tests (three astronauts each), and two orbit tests made the lunar landings possible.

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Astronauts will ride in a capsule at the top of the rocket, as they did in the famous Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.

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