[NASA]. Signed photograph of the Project Mercury Astronauts. 1963.

13 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. chromogenic photograph. Matted and framed (not examined out of frame, overall 18 3/4 x 21 1/2 in.). Provenance: Acquired Heritage Auction Galleries, 20 September 2007, sale 669 lot 25056.

SIGNED BY GUS GRISSOM, JOHN GLENN, JR., GORDON COOPER, SCOTT CARPENTER, WALLY SCHIRRA, AND D.K. SLAYTON. With an additional secretarial signature for Alan Shepherd.

In response to the Soviet Union's launch Sputnik 1 satellite on October 4, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created a new civilian space agency whose primary goal would be to compete with the Soviets in space. The following year Project Mercury was announced, with the stated aim of launching a man into Earth's orbit and returning him safely. The seven astronauts selected for the program, all members of the United States armed forces, were Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Jr., Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, and D.K. Slayton. In 1962 Glenn would become the first American to orbit the earth, while Grissom would tragically lose his life in the Apollo 1 disaster on January 27, 1967.

This informal group shot was taken at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston on October 21, 1963, during Look Magazine's photo coverage for the Mercury Seven's winning of the Robert J. Collier Trophy Award.