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| NASA Astronaut Group 3 (The Fourteen) | |
|---|---|
| Name | NASA Astronaut Group 3 (The Fourteen) |
| Date | 1963 |
| Size | 14 |
| Previous | NASA Astronaut Group 2 |
| Next | NASA Astronaut Group 4 |
NASA Astronaut Group 3 (The Fourteen) was the third group of astronauts selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1963, chosen to expand crews for the Mercury program, Project Gemini, and the emerging Apollo program. The cohort included pilots and scientist-astronauts drawn from United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States Army, and civilian research institutions, and its members later flew on landmark missions such as Apollo 9, Apollo 15, Skylab, Space Shuttle Columbia, and STS-1.
The selection followed increasing demands from President John F. Kennedy and program leaders at Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, and Manned Spacecraft Center to meet schedules for Apollo program lunar ambitions and to staff Gemini program rendezvous and docking tests; recruiters targeted experienced aviators and scientists from Naval Air Test Pilot School, Air Force Test Pilot School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and California Institute of Technology. Screening panels included representatives from Wernher von Braun's teams at Redstone Arsenal, flight surgeons from Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, and personnel from Lewis Research Center who evaluated candidates' performance on centrifuges, isolation tests, and altitude chambers. Selection criteria emphasized flight hours, engineering degrees from institutions like United States Naval Academy and United States Military Academy, test pilot backgrounds associated with aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom II and F-101 Voodoo, and medical standards aligned with policies from Federal Aviation Administration-linked specialists.
The Fourteen comprised fourteen individuals representing diverse operational and scientific backgrounds drawn from United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States Army, and civilian research. Notable members included pilots and scientist-astronauts who later joined missions with commanders such as James A. McDivitt, David Scott, John Young, Alan Shepard, and flight engineers who served under program managers like Christopher C. Kraft Jr. and George Mueller. The group featured alumni of Naval Postgraduate School, Purdue University, United States Naval Test Pilot School, and research affiliates from Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center. Individual careers intersected with figures such as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper, and Scott Carpenter through training, crew assignments, and administrative panels.
Training integrated modules at Johnson Space Center, centrifuge runs developed by engineers from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and extravehicular activity protocols influenced by work at Langley Research Center and Lewis Research Center. Assignments placed members into Gemini program support roles, backup crewmember slots for Apollo missions, and later primary positions on Skylab and Space Shuttle crews; they worked with mission planners from Kennedy Space Center and flight controllers under Christopher C. Kraft Jr. at Mission Control Center. The group's training emphasized rendezvous techniques pioneered in Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, life support systems from Apollo 11 testing, and payload operations coordinated with Marshall Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center specialists.
Members flew on early and later NASA programs, participating in crewed flights including Apollo 9 which tested the Lunar Module, Apollo 15 which conducted Jupiter-related experiments? and Skylab long-duration missions that demonstrated biomedical research protocols from National Institutes of Health collaborations. Later years saw members transition to the Space Shuttle era with flights aboard Space Shuttle Columbia including the inaugural STS-1 mission and subsequent shuttle missions that carried experiments sponsored by National Science Foundation and payloads from European Space Agency. Flight histories also included EVAs informed by procedures tested on Gemini IV and operational roles in docking missions similar to Apollo–Soyuz Test Project cooperation with Soviet Union cosmonauts and program interactions with figures like Alexei Leonov and Valentin Glushko.
The Fourteen contributed to developments in rendezvous and docking techniques, spacecraft life-support engineering, biomedical research on microgravity effects coordinated with National Institutes of Health, and procedures for extravehicular activity that influenced later International Space Station operations. Members advanced aeronautical testing methods originating at Edwards Air Force Base, flight instrumentation refined with input from Massachusetts Institute of Technology laboratories, and mission-planning practices adopted by Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center. Their operational experience fed into policy and technical guidance used by successors from NASA Astronaut Group 4 through NASA Astronaut Group 9, and their research partnerships included collaborations with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Langley Research Center, and university laboratories such as Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.
Public portrayal of the group intersected with media coverage by outlets reporting on Apollo 11 and later shuttle flights, and members appeared in public engagements alongside figures like President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew during ceremonial milestones. The group's legacy endures in institutional histories at Johnson Space Center, archival collections at National Air and Space Museum, and ongoing recognition within Astronaut Hall of Fame, influencing curricula at United States Naval Academy and incentives for future astronaut selections by National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Their operational achievements continue to be referenced in biographies of astronauts such as Neil Armstrong, John Young, James Lovell, Fred Haise, Gene Cernan, and in technical retrospectives by historians linked to Smithsonian Institution.