Man In Space Soonest (MISS) was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(USAF) program to put a

man A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

into outer space before the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

. Only two men from the program would actually reach outer space. The first, Joseph A. Walker, did so two or three times (depending on the definition of the space border) in

X-15 The North American X-15 is a Hypersonic speed, hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft which was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the List of X-planes, X-plane series of ...

rocket plane tests in 1963. The other,

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

, became a NASA astronaut in 1962, flew on

Gemini 8 Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini, Gemini program. It was launched on March 16, 1966, and was the 14th crew ...

in 1966, and in 1969 on

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

becoming the first person to walk on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Astronaut candidates

MISS would have used a

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

booster, then later an

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

, to launch a single-man spacecraft into orbit. On June 25, 1958, the Air Force announced the following nine men selected to be astronauts for the program:MISS' selection date
* Neil A. Armstrong (1930–2012), 27,

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

. The only member of the group to join the NASA Astronaut Corps. Flew on

and

missions; performed the first docking of two spacecraft, was the first—along with

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...

—to land on the

, and was the first person to set foot on the Moon. * William B. Bridgeman (1916–1968), 42,

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and military, defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell D ...

* A. Scott Crossfield (1921–2006), 36,

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

(NAA) * Iven C. Kincheloe (1928–1958), 29, USAF * John B. McKay (1922–1975), 35, NACA * Robert A. Rushworth (1924–1993), 33, USAF * Joseph A. Walker (1921–1966), 37, NACA. The first member of the group to achieve outer space according to the FAI, and to enter space twice, on two

test flights. * Alvin S. White (1918–2006), 39, NAA * Robert M. White (1924–2010), 33, USAF. The first member of the group to achieve outer space according to the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

References

External links

Encyclopedia Astronautica entry
*

(NASA History) {{US human spaceflight programs , before=''none'' , after= Mercury Abandoned military projects of the United States Human spaceflight Neil Armstrong Proposed spacecraft 1958 in spaceflight 1958 in the United States

Astronaut candidates

See also

References

External links