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Man In Space Soonest (MISS) was aUnited States Air Force (USAF) program to put aman intoouter space before theSoviet Union. The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced byNASA'sProject Mercury. 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 thespace border) inX-15 rocket plane tests in 1963. The other,Neil Armstrong, became aNASA astronaut in 1962, flew onGemini 8 in 1966, and in 1969 onApollo 11 becoming the first person to walk on theMoon.

MISS would have used aThor booster, then later anAtlas, 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:^[1]

• Neil A. Armstrong (1930–2012), 27,NACA. The only member of the group to join theNASA Astronaut Corps. Flew onGemini 8 andApollo 11 missions; performed the first docking of two spacecraft, was the first—along withBuzz Aldrin—to land on theMoon, and was the first person to set foot on the Moon.
• William B. Bridgeman (1916–1968), 42,Douglas Aircraft Company
• A. Scott Crossfield (1921–2006), 36,North American Aviation (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 theFAI, and to enter space twice, on twoX-15 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 theUSAF.

• List of astronauts by selection
• Project Mercury
• Vostok Program

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMan in Space Soonest.

• Encyclopedia Astronautica entry.
• Reichhardt, Tony (September 2000)."First Up?".Air & Space/Smithsonian. RetrievedMay 23, 2021.
• Man In Space Soonest? (NASA History)

• Abandoned military projects of the United States
• Human spaceflight
• Neil Armstrong
• Proposed spacecraft
• 1958 in spaceflight
• 1958 in the United States

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