Editing List of Apollo astronauts (section)

=== 1959 ===
[[File:Mercury Seven astronauts with aircraft.jpg|thumb|[[Mercury Seven]] astronauts (L to R): [[Scott Carpenter]], [[Gordon Cooper]], [[John Glenn]], [[Gus Grissom|Grissom]], [[Wally Schirra|Schirra]], [[Alan Shepard|Shepard]], and [[Deke Slayton|Slayton]]]]
* [[Gus Grissom|Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom]] began his career at NASA in 1959. In 1966, he was selected as Command Pilot for the first crewed [[Apollo 1|Apollo mission]], a low Earth orbit test. This mission ended a month before its scheduled launch,<ref name="MarAprChron">[[George E. Mueller]], Associate Administrator of the Office of Manned Spaceflight, issued a directive on April 24, 1967, that the mission would be officially recorded as Apollo 1, "first manned Apollo Saturn flight - failed on ground test."
{{cite web
 | last1 = Ertel | first1 = Ivan D.
 | last2 = Newkirk | first2 = Roland W.
 | last3 = Brooks | first3 = Courtney G.
 | title = Vol.11, part 1 (1967 Mar/Apr), March 25 - April 24
 | work = NASA SP-4009: The Apollo Spacecraft – A Chronology
 | publisher = [[NASA]]
 | year = 1978
 | url = http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p1h.htm
 | access-date =March 3, 2011 }}
</ref> when a cabin fire on the launch pad killed Grissom, [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]] and [[Roger B. Chaffee|Roger Chaffee]] on January 27, 1967.<ref>Zornio, Mary C. [https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/zorn/grissom.htm ''Detailed Biographies of Apollo I Crew'' - "Gus Grissom"], NASA, accessed July 19, 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Deke!: U.S. Manned Space from Mercury to the Shuttle|last= Slayton|first= Donald K|author2= Cassutt, Michael|year= 1994|edition= 1st|publisher= Forge: St. Martin's Press|location= [[New York City]]|isbn= 0-312-85503-6|oclc= 29845663|lccn= 94-2463|page= [https://archive.org/details/dekeusmannedspac00slay/page/234 234]|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/dekeusmannedspac00slay/page/234}}</ref>
* [[Wally Schirra|Walter M. Schirra Jr.]] also began his NASA career in 1959.  He was selected in October 1968 as Command Pilot for [[Apollo 7]], an 11-day, [[low Earth orbit]] shakedown test of the three-man [[Apollo Command/Service Module]] and the first crewed launch for the [[Apollo program|Apollo project]].
* [[Alan Shepard|Alan B. Shepard Jr.]] – America's first man in space on ''[[Mercury-Redstone 3|Freedom 7]]'' was originally selected to command Gemini 3, but was medically grounded for the duration of Gemini due to [[Ménière's disease]] and assisted Slayton in Flight Operations. After corrective surgery, Shepard was restored to flight status and commanded [[Apollo 14]], the third successful Moon landing mission.