[Project Mercury] — The Original Seven Mercury Astronauts. Color photograph, signed and inscribed by three astronauts

[Project Mercury]

The Original Mercury Seven Astronauts

Color photograph, 16 x 20 in., SIGNED AND INSCRIBED in black ink by Gordon Cooper "THE ORIGINAL SEVEN, GORDON COOPER", and additionally SIGNED in black ink by Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter.

Taken on April 9, 1959, this is the official group portrait of NASA's first astronaut class, the Mercury 7, donning their official spacesuits.

Project Mercury's goal was to put a man into Earth orbit, and was the U.S.'s first human spaceflight program, running 1958-1963.