Man in Space Soonest

Man In Space Soonest (MISS) was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to put a man into outer space before the Soviet Union did. The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced by NASA's Project Mercury. Only two men from the program would actually reach outer space. The first, Joseph A. Walker, did so twice in two X-15 rocket plane tests in 1963. Another, Neil Armstrong, became a NASA astronaut in 1962 and became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.

Astronaut candidates
MISS would have used a Thor booster, then later an Atlas, to launch a single-man spacecraft into orbit. The Air Force selected the following nine men to be astronauts for the program:


 * Neil A. Armstrong (1930-2012), 27, NACA
 * Only member of the group to join the NASA Astronaut Corps
 * Flew on Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 missions; performed the first docking of two spacecraft, was the first -- along with Buzz Aldrin -- to land on the Moon, and was the first person to set foot on the Moon


 * William B. Bridgeman (1916-1968), 42, Douglas Aircraft Company


 * Scott Crossfield (1921-2006), 36, North American Aviation (NAA)


 * Iven C. Kincheloe (1928-1958), 29, USAF


 * John B. McKay (1922-1975), 34, NACA


 * Robert A. Rushworth (1924-1993), 33, USAF


 * Joseph A. Walker (1921-1966), 36, NACA
 * First member of the group to achieve international astronaut recognition, and to enter space twice, on two X-15 test flights


 * Alvin S. White (1918-2006), 38, NAA


 * Robert M. White (1924-2010), 33, USAF