33. [Project Mercury] ICONIC PORTRAIT OF THE MERCURY SEVEN: NASA's first astronauts, in silver spacesuits Ralph Morse, July 1960 Printed 1962. Vintage gelatin print on fibre-based paper [NASA image B-60-1587]. With NASA caption on the reverse, numbered "NASA B-60-1587" in black in the top margin (issued by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context Possibly the most famous portrait of any astronaut crew in the history of space exploration, this photograph, taken by renowned LIFE photographer Ralph Morse in July 1960, symbolizes the dawn of the U.S. human spaceflight program and the relentless determination to conquer space during the Cold War's Space Race. Known for his close relationship with the astronauts, Ralph Morse was so integrated into their lives that John Glenn affectionately nicknamed him "the eighth astronaut." Captured during a fitting at Langley Air Force Base, the Mercury Seven astronauts are wearing their iconic silver pressure suits for the first time—designed as their critical "life support" in the harsh environment of space. Front row, left to right: Walter Schirra, Donald "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn, and Scott Carpenter. Back row, left to right: Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, and Gordon Cooper. Walter Schirra on the pressure suit's importance: "My special interest and responsibility for the past year has been the development of these 'life support' or 'environmental control' systems. To me, the most interesting of them all is the pressure suit which the Astronaut will wear into space. Basically, the suit is a tailored rubber bag, a man-shaped balloon, and it is our last-ditch protection against disaster. If the capsule, orbiting in the vacuum of space, springs a leak during flight and the pressure takes a big drop, delicate barometric sensors will discover it immediately and signal the Astronaut to close his helmet's face plate. The suit becomes sealed and inflates automatically. In effect, the Astronaut is then wearing his own oxygen-conditioned, pressurized cabin." (LIFE magazine, August 1, 1960, p. 36) Literature LIFE, 1 August 1960, p. 37 Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, Reynolds, pp. 38-39 Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, p. 40