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N EWS R E LEAS E

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION


400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
TELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3 -1110

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE


12:15 p.m., 16 March 1062
RELEASE NO. 62-67

NEWS MEDIA CONFERENCE


PILOT CHANGE IN MERCURY-ATLAS NO. 7

12:15 p.m., Friday, 16 March 1962

PARTICIPANTS:

(2 LT. COL. JOHN A. POWERS, Public Affairs Officer, NASA Manned


Spacecraft Center.

ASTRONAUT DONALD K. SLAYTON.

DR. HUGH L. DRYDEN, Deputy Director, NASA.

DR. C. H. ROADMAN, Director, Aerospace Medicine, Office of


Manned Space Flight, NASA.
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htl POWERS: We apologize for being some fifteen minutes


late. Our colleagues in the radio and television equipment
industry are having trouble with their equipment.

We regret that we have come up with short notice


this morning. I don't think there is any need to introduce
the principals who are here on the platform.

As you all know, a decision was reached yesterday


with regard-to Major Don Slayton's role as pilot of the next
manned orbital flight. Since that time there has been a great
deal of interest from all members of the news media, and so
we are attempting to respond to that interest and give you
an opportunity to see that this fellow is not sickened to
bed any place, but is live, hale and healthy, and to perhaps
answer some of the questions that are on your mind.

I think that states it fairly enough, does it not,


Dr. Dryden?

DRYDEN: I think so.

I might make one or two statements. First, the only


decision that has been made is that Deke will not take the
next mission in the NA-7. There are no decisions made to
continue him for the future until there has been opportunity
for further examinations of this little defect that he has.

All of us have similar things wrong with our bodies,


I think. We want to understand more about the relationship
and significance of this to future flights.

Deke will continue in the program. He has a very


important part to play in the next mission. We hope to get
him back to work cawrying on that part of the mission.

I thin-. that this perhaps is all the additional


statement that is needed at this time. We are ready to
iespond to questions.

Dr. Roadman, from the Headquarters Office of Manned


Space Flight, is here with us.

POWERS: Mr. Simmons?

QUESTION: I would like to know the circumstances


under which the defect was initially discovered, and why there
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was a delay to make a decision until this time in the progtam.

DRYDEN: The defect was first discovered in 1959.


At that time we had assurance from the medical people that
this would not interfere with the mission. Thero has been no
distinct change in this condition so far as I know. But in
the continuing review by those who have the responsibility for
the mission it was decided wiser to make the change and to
continue to take a little more time to assess the significance
of this condition in relation to the stresses of orbital
flight.

QUESTION: I wonder if Dr. Roadman could give us


the wedical term. What is this condition? What are you talk-
ing about when you say he has an erratic heart condition, so
we will know what we are talking about?

ROADMAN: I presume,Deke, it is all right for me


to tell them the diagnosis? The reason I mention that point
is from a professional point of view these things are and
should be handled in a professional sense.

With Deke's permission: This is a diagnosis of


paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Paroxysmal, in simplest terms, is that it happens


at indeterminate times. It is not continuously present,
intermittent, are other words we might use to describe it.

Atrium: The atrial portion of the heart is one


of the upper valve portions of the heart, the other portion
being the pumping part, the ventricle. The atrium is more
or less of a filling type receptable for blood coming into
the heart, going out. The fibrillation might be described
in other terms as flutter or that type of increased movement.

Another significant thing is the heart in its


normal rhythm, so to speak, has an impulse mechanism which
acts upon'the atrial portion of the heart and also on the
ventricle. When these do not operate, let's say, in normal
sequence and input, you will develop an increased beat, if
I may use that term, in the atrium. This is atrial fibrilla-
tion.

QUESTION: Doctor, is this the same as idiopathic?


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3ht
ROADMAN: Idiopathic should be included in these
terminologies as described. Idiopathic in the broad sense
is used when we say "Cause unknown."

QUESTION: As distinguished from atrial fibrilla-,


tion that can result from some pre-existing medical condition;
is that correct, sir?

ROADMAN: That is right. In other words, you can


assess a definitive and well-diagnosed cause for this
condition. Then you would delete the term idiopathic.

QUESTION: What are the causes of non-idiopathic


fibrillation?

ROADVAN: You can have a situation such as


thyrotoxicosis where you have, say, too much thyroid secretion
which can cause this. Again there are marked individual varia-
tions. This is what makes medicine sporty, the individual
variations in all of us.

Febrile diseases, in which high fever and/or specific


known diseases have been known to cause this condition in some
patients. These are generally the causes. And of course your
diseases of arteriosclerosis can produce, in some patients,
this type of condition.

When you can determine these specific causes for


this thing, you obviously associate the particular entity
with this type of heart action and you can find no cause for
it at all. It is idiopathic.

QUESTION: It there was no distinct change in


Slayton's condition, why was be first selected and then the
assignment changed? 7
DRYDHN>/ A reassessment by people up the 1He as
to the significance of this in relation to the strlAsses of
orbital flight. I

QUESTION: Was there something as a result of


Glenn's flight that you learned?

DRYDEN: No.
4ht 5

QUESTION: Dr. Roadman, how prevalent is this in


the general population?

ROADMAN: How what?

QUESTION: How prevalent would this condition be in


the general population?

ROADMAN: I can't answer that specifically. I would


say this is certainly a relatively well-known clinical condition.

In other words, it is not a rare or unknown entity.


The cardiac arrhythmias -- using the term arrhythmia in terms
of different heart beats, different timings of the contractions
of the heart -- a well-known clinical entity.

POWERS: Mr. Finney?

QUESTION: A three-part question on the method followed


in reaching this decision. One, was the Astronaut's personal
physician consulted? Two, why was an Air Force board brought
in? And third, was the medical opinion unanimous that he
(K) should not take this flight?

DRYDEN: Deke is an Air Force officer. When this


matter was first brought up, quite properly I think the Air
Force wished to assume the Jurisdiction as to his medical'
condition.

I can only repeat from firsthand what I know first-


hand. Secretary Zuckert called me first yesterday afternoon
and said that a board of civilian consultants had recom-
mended unanimously that he not make this flight at this time.

QUESTION: There are two other parts to the


question. One was, was Douglas consulted, and three, was
the medical opinion unanimous?

POWERS: Dr. Douglas was consulted because he was


involved in the processing and was familiar with the process.

ROADMAN: I would like to highlight that. Dr. Douglas


has been in constant touch with Deke, as you know, as well as
the other Astronauts, in constant daily association as a
flight surgeon to these Astronauts.
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Dr. Douglas, obviously his professional observa-


tion and care is of the first magnitude in this particular
problem.

DRYDEN: I wish Dr. Douglas were here so he could


speak for himself on this matter. He has been with the
Astronauts from the beginning. In 1959, when this condition
was discovered, he felt and I believe still feels that this
is not a condition which necessarily prevents Deke from
making orbital flights.

QUESTION: He is here, isn't he?

DRYDEN: Do you want to speak for yourself,


Dr. Douglas?

DOUGLAS: He was qualified to go.

DRYDEN: We are entering, as you can sce, the question


of medical opinion about a condition whose significance is not
interpreted the same way by everyone.

QUESTION: How was it picked up? How was the fibrillb-


tion picked up, and is there any indication that the stress in
training was the cause?

SLAYTON: As to the first part, the first time I


was aware of it was in our first centrifuge program at Johns-
ville, which was also the first time I had had EKG leads
on in quite some time, other than in physical exams. When
the EKG leads were applied it was apparent I had this condi-
tion. /

QUESTION: This was before --

SLAYTON: This was before I ever got on the wheel,


before I ever got on the vehicle. :t was not as a result of
being on the wheel. Of course, I have been conscious of it
at various times since that point. Up to that point I was
not aware of it.

QUESTION: Are you aware of it physiologically?


Can you feel it, on the onset of this?

SLAYTON: Sometimes, yes.

/
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QUESTION: What was the question?

POWERS: The question was whether you were physio-


logically personally aware of it.

SLAYTON: To amplify it, it does not affect my


performance in any way. I can do everything with it that
I can without it, in terms of stress exercise and so forth.

QUESTION: How do you feel it?

SLAYTON: Mostly in my pulse. I couldn't tell you


whether I had it right now or not unless I took my pulse.

QUESTION: How do you detect it?

SLAYTON: The best way I can tell you is by feeling


the pulse. It is irregular at the times I do have it.

DRYDEN: Let's make it clear, Deke is ready to go,


as far as I am concerned.

QUESTION: Is this the first time that the Air


Force panel has gotten into this? In other words, it is
still confusing to us why we went this far and then had a
reassessment now which apparently differs from prior
reassessments if we had them. Is it a conflict between
an Air Force panel thinking he shouldn't, and Dr. Douglas
thinking he should or can? This is still confusing.

DRYDEN: The question was first raised within


the management echelons of NASA as to what is the real
significance of this condition in relation to the stresses
of orbital flight. You may recall, there are a number of
new people within NASA at the present time who are carry-
ing the responsibility for the program. The general feel-
ing was that this condition should be re-evaluated.

As I have explained, the Air Force was consulted,


and since Deke is an Air Force officer they assumed the
responsibility for this examination.

QUESTION: Would this affect jet flight? Other


flying?

POWERS: The question is would it affect other


X' flying? Is that correct?
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QUESTION: Yes, jet flying.

ROADMAN: I can answer that from a medical standpoint.


In Dr. Douglas' opinion, and in mine, and shared by others,
again with an opportunity to express opinion, the answer is
absolutely not.

QUESTION: Is there an active examination or


program now to determine the cause of this?

And two, does this rule out future flights?

Did the Air Force board rule out future flights?

DRYDEN: I will answer that. I tried to make it


clear at the beginning that this deals only with this par-
ticular flight. There will be further examinations and
study of this condition.
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cl
Deke's
QUESTION: John, could you tell us what
role will be in MA-7?
Are you
POWERS: I don't think we are real firm.
going to be at CapCom?
can tell
SLAYTON: I don't know specifically. I
next month, and
you what it will be for approximately the
up to date as much
that is trying to bring Scott Carpenter
familiar with,
as possible on the capsule, which I am most
that I can. help
and help him out in any way I can. Anything
him on, I will.

QUESTION: In getting the capsule ready, Deke?

SLAYTON: That is right. We were further along


with that already, of course.

QUESTION: You said, Deke, that this condition


performance in
has not affected, I think you said, your
any way?

SLAYTON: This is correct.

QUESTION: What do you mean by performance?


Exercise and what else?

SLAYTON: This is correct. As far as my physical


performance, absolutely no effect.

QUESTION: I would like to ask, if you are going


stress of space
to re-evaluate this condition under the
flight, how do you intend to do this?

DRYDEN: This is a medical task that I can't


answer. I don't know whether Dr. Roadman can or not.

ROADMAN: As a matter of fact, this is a very


with Deke. We,
good question. It leads to our discussions
way to access
to meet his desires, will continue in a major
we are very
Deke's condition under stress, and specifically
and then putting
interested in waiting for Deke to fibrillate
exist, with
Deke in under these stress tests as they now
subject him
some others that we have been thinking about,
to performance tasks while he is fibrillating.
the
Obviously, we cannot simulate on the ground
of the considera-
actual space environment. But this is one
As we get
tions I am sure are in some people's minds.
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more experience in more space flights, I Am sure that we will
come to many conclusions that it is not nearly as stressful
as many people now currently hold to that view.

QUESTION: This was part of my view. This, in


other words, has not been observed under any other tests
or training during the training program. It has not occurred?

ROADMAN: That is correct.

SLAYTON: It is not a function of the stress. I


want to make that perfectly clear. No matter what stress
I have ever been under, it has had absolutely no bearing on
it.

QUESTION: It could have occurred. If it occurred


normally, it might have occurred, but it hasn't,

SLAYTON: If it had; it would have made no difference.

ROADMAN: In other words, we are not able to


precipitate this under stress.

DRYDEN: May I say as a layman I think all of


you know from the results from the various space flights that
we have not been able to devise a ground test which produces
exactly the same stress. In other words, the heart rates in
actual flight have always been somewhat higher than those
in simulator flights or in centrifuge runs.

QUESTION: Dr. Dryden, you indicated that the


decision was made on a re-evaluation of current data on space
flight but that it did not come from Col. Glenn's flight.
Where did this re-evaluation come from?

DRYDEN: I think it was the facing up to the


responsibilities of the people within the organization as
to the consequences of a possible failure during the flight;
with such a condition known, and its feeling that we do not
at this moment know enough about the significance of the
condition to proceed with confidence.

POWERS: Mr. von Friend?

QUESTION: I have two questions, the first for


Dr. Roadman. We know that in 1960, I think it was, Gordon
Cooper had some gallstone trouble and now we know of Deke's
trouble. Do any of the other astronauts have any minor
I.l

c3
defects of any sort which might possibly interfere with their
flight at sone later time that you know of now?

ROADMAN: No.

QUESTION: A question for Deke. Were you aware


during the past few weeks that this thing might interfere
with your flight? Or was this a sudden announcement?

SLAYTON: I was not aware of it. This is correct.

QUESTION: Was there an evaluation made just prior


to Deke's being named as the next orbital pilot?

DRYDEN: No. Deke was chosen for this tn good


faith on the basis of the assurances that we had felt that
this was not a condition that would lead to difficulty. Deke
was told as soon as the question was raised as to possible
additional examination and study of this question. It has
all been very recent, however.

POWERS: Mr. Simmons?

QUESTION: Dr. Dryden, you say that Deke was


chosen for this on the basis of assurances that this would
not lead to difficulty. What were these assurances? Who
made them? Was there a board, an Air Force board in 1959?

DRYDEN: No. I am talking about the feeling


that Dr. Douglas has expressed and still expresses today.
No question had been raised from the point of view of the
operating people. Doke was the one most ready and highly
qualified to make this flight. As I have tried to explain
without going into every Jim and Joe who contributed to
this, there was a consideration by the people who are
responsible for the success of the mission as to the possible
significance of this in relation to the stresses of orbital
flight. It was felt that possibly some additional medical
examination and consultation should be held. It has all
gone very quickly, and, as a matter of fact, much more
quickly than I had expected that it would be done.

ROADNAN: I might add to your comment, to be as


helpful as I can, and I now am expressing my opinion, I
think you should all understand, again I repeat, individual
variations makes medicine quite sporty, and then again there
are many factors in which individual medical judgment and/or
opinion are evaluated.
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c4
Those of us in Aerospace Medicine have, I think,
a unique position in evaluating as best we can in our
judgment medical conditions in which you could say this is
a clinical medical condition, and by our experience, both
in the air and flying and aviation medicine, if I may use
that term, are in a position to look at this in sort of an
industrial sense in terms of the total environment of the
total problem.

By contrast -- and you must understand that in


the average or normal clinical practice of medicine --
oftentimes there are rather wide divergent opinions. A
person who sees patients in the normal clinical practice
is confronted with a different set of circumstances often-
times by contrast to those of us who are dealing with the
pilot population and in flying. In trying to evaluate a
clinical condition, you have to arrive and oftentimes arrive
at good, honest differences of opinion as to the relative
risks attached to this, assessing the medical point of
view and looking at what you are trying to accomplish.

DRYDEN: This is a lot of words to say that


doctors in clinics usually are looking at sick people.
Aeromedical people are looking at those who are more
nearly healthy.

ROADMAN: That is correct.

QUESTION: How long do these occur; how long do


they last; and when was the most recent one tha.t you had?

SLAYTON: I normally don't pay that much atten-


tion to it. I did at the time I first became aware of it.

QUESTION: Was that in 1959?

SLAYTON: Yes, I think it was 1959. I kept


fairly close track of it for a while, and when it became
apparent it wasn't making any difference whether I had it
or not, as far as what I did, I stopped paying attention
to it.

In general, as close as I can remember from the


numbers that I have, an average of once every two weeks,
approximately, I may have it for a couple of days.

QUESTION: And the most recent one, sir?


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SLAYTON: I would say maybe about two weeks ago,
approximately.

QUESTION: Do you still have it?

SLAYTON: Oh, negative.

QUESTION: If they last for two weeks -

SLAYTON: Negative. Negative. They last some-


times a day or two days. I can get .rfd of them by going
out and running two or three miles.

QUESTION: Dr. Roadman, is this related to what


is commonly known as athletic heart?

ROADMAN: No.

QUESTION: Not at all?

ROADMAN: No.

QUESTION: Since it was first discovered,


obviously you have been in the centrifuge. Have you been
flying jets and breaking sound barriers over the Cape and
so on?

SLAYTON: No. No, never. I have been flying


continually. I have been doing everything else that any-
body else in the program has been doing.

QUESTION: Is there any Air Force regulation


which would ground you?

SLAYTON: Not that I am aware of.

QUESTION: Could you tell us how many Ge did


you take on the centrifuge -- peak Gs?

SLAYTON: Somewhere around 14 or 15.

QUESTION: Dr. Dryden, if the designated back-


up pilot does not replace the prime pilot in such an in-
stance, why do we have a designated back-up pilot?

DRYDEN: This was the back-up pilot. If you


recall, Carpenter was the back-up to Glenn. We felt that
14

in this instance it was quicker and easier to make use of


that back-up experience rather than the much more limited
experience that Schirra has had to date.

QUESTION: Dr. Dryden, you mentioned something


about new people having come into the space program.

DRYDEN: Since 1959, when this condition was


first observed. As far as I know, it has not been brought
to the attention of Headquarters people until very recently
since that date.

POWERS: We have to break at 12:45.

Mr. Simmo~%

~/ 0/
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.s QUESTION: I would like to ask Deke or Dr. Dryden
about future possibilities. Would Deke get a chance
to go on
later Mercury flights, or will he wait until the two-man
Gemini program?

DRYDEN: I think what I have said is that all that


has been decided to date is that he will not fly on the MA-7
mission. Now perhaps two months from now, when we get through
these additional tests and so on; we can tell you what the
future would be.

POWERS: Mr. Finney?

QUESTION: Dr. Dryden, would I take it from your


comments that the initiative to re-examine this physical
situation came from NASA headquarters?

DRYDEN: That is correct.

QUESTION: You say, Dr. Dryden, it was not brought


to the attention of headquarters people since that date until
just recently?

(- DRYDEN' That is correct. It became known to the


people in charge of the program at this time rather recently.

QUESTION: Major Slayton, we kind of dissected you.


Can you tell us how you felt about this when you were told,
where you were when.you were told, and your impressions and
reactions?

QUESTION: And when you were told?

SLAYTON: As Dr. Dryden said, when this thing came


up for re-evaluation two or three days ago, I was told I
was being re-evaluated. I came up here yesterday to meet
the latest board of cardiologists and I was told immediately
after they had made their decision. Of course my feelings,
I think, are very obvious. I am damned disappointed. TLt's
face it.

DRYDEN: I think we all share these feelings. It


is with great regret that this has happened this way to as
fine a fellow as I know.

QUESTION: I have a two-part question. At which


time during space flight is the pilot usJer the most stress,
16

and two, could this possibly be an asset to the program,


that you are able to observe this and find out more than
you would if the Astronaut did not have this defect?

SLAYTON: That is a very interesting approach. I


would like to carry that one farther.

POWERS: Dr. Roadman, do you recall when the


heaviest stresses were?

ROADMAN: Would you state that again?

QUESTION: During any space flight, at what time


during the flight is greatest stress put on the heart?
Under the G forces or when? While you are under heavy gravi-
tational force or when?

ROADMAN: I think that is a rather hard one to


answer.

SIAYTON: I think I have the best answer to that


one. I think the most stress on the heart is at the press
conference after the flight.

QUESTION: I asked during the flight.

ROADMAN: It is awfully difficult to answer purely


medical. I know that John has stated to me, in reviewing
his flight -- and I think he stated to the rest of these
people -- that the Intervening days after the flight were
much more stressful than his experience in flight.

QUESTION: You mean you couldn't get it from the


medical records?

ROADVAN: Yes, you get an indication as far as


pulse rates are concerned, but it is awfully difficult to
evaluate, for example, whether acceleration on boost or
re-entry is really more stressful.

POWERS: The pulse rate is not necessarily a measure


of stress?

ROADMAN: No.

DRYDEN: We gather, of course, from the centrifuge


sixulator test that th3re is a difference between that condition
17
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and flight condition. Many people think it is related to
emotion. You could think of various emotional circumstances,
I think, when the heart rate beats faster than normal.

QUESTION: Two questions. First, for Major Slayton.

Have you had any kind of a formal waiver from the


Air Force to continue your jet flying with the knowledge of
this condition?

SLAYTON: I am under the control of NASA at the


present time and have been for the past three years fo; the
purposes of the mission. Within this context I have been
granted a waiver to fly both aircraft and space vehicles
obviously, or I wouldn't have been selected for this par-
ticular shot. J

What action the Air Force has to take, and if any is


required, I would have to ask Dr. Roadman to comment on.

ROADMAN: I would have no further comment, I am


on board with NASA as well. I think the Air Force would have
to answer that.

POWERS: The point here is that he has not been


suspended from flying status. I think we ought to make that
point clear.

QUESTION: The other part of the question is for


Dr. Roadman. Is this kind of a minor defect likely to
occur with other members of this program as they approach
their 40's or past their 40's and the program goes on?

ROADMAN: It would be impossible to say precisely.


One's opinion would be that it would not.

QUESTION: Dr. Roadman, what would be consequential


from what we now know of the defect if the Astronaut were
traveling around in space, if this were a consideration?
In other words, what spells the difference?

ROADMAN: There is this possibility: In other words,


if you consider fibrillation as an abnormality in rhythm and
timing, knowing that the heart in its action, in order to be
most efficient has to have a cycling rhythm and a timing or
the gearing mechanism must be in normal cycle, in the clinical
18

4bt sense some patients have been evaluated in fibrillation --


again I am not referring to Deke -- in some clinical conditions
during atrial fibrillation, then the ventricular rate has been
influenced and changed.

This change in the ventricular rate and cycling, so


to speak, of the heart, can in some cases result in reduced
efficiency in circulation as far as the pumping action of
the heart. /

POWERS: Thank you very much, gentlemen.

(Thereupon, at 12:48 p.m., the press conference/


was concluded.) /

* ad
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION TELS WO 2-4155
)NEWS WASHINGTON,D.C. 20546 WO 3-695

FOR RELEASE: March 15, 1962

RELEASE NO. 62-66A

CARPENTER REPLACES SLAYTON AS MA-7 PILOT

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said


today a heart condition will prevent Astronaut Donald K.
Slayton from piloting the Mercury-Atlas 7 spacecraft.
Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter, backup pilot to John H.
Glenn, Jr. for his recent MA-6 flight, has been selected
as prime pilot for the MA-7 mission. Carpenter's backup
pilot will be Astronaut Walter M. Schirra.
Doctors described Slayton's difficulty as an "erratic
heart rate." In medical terms, it is described as idiopathic
atrial fibrillation.
The condition was detected in November, 1959. At that
time it was decided Slayton, an Air Force major on loan to
NASA, should continue in the program and the condition
should be monitored closely. An Air Force medical board,
meeting today to review the case, advised NASA that Slayton
should not attempt the MA-7 mission. A board of civilian
Cardiologists confirmed the condition.
On learning of the board's decision, Slayton said he
was extremely disappointed. "To realize that I will not
be piloting MA-7 -- well, I'm very disappointed to say the
least," Slayton daid.
The civilian cardiologists were Dr. Proctor Harvey,
professor of cardiology, Georgetown University; Dr. Thomas
Mattingly, heart specialist, Washington Hospital Center,
and Dr. Eugene Braunwall, a cardiology researcher, National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
Carpenter and Schirra are Navy pilots who, like Slayton
and the other astronauts, Joined NASA in April, 1959.
Carpenter is a lieutenant commander; Schirra, a commander.

-End-

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