Here are some of the general training activities that the astronauts have undergone since May 1959.

1. Systems and Vehicle Familiarization. The astronauts were given lectures in the vehicle systems by NASA and several of the contracting companies. Langley Research Center gave them a 50-hour course in astronautics. McDonnell gave the astronauts lectures on the Mercury sub-systems and sessions on code training. Lectures were given to the astronauts by Dr. William K. Douglass on areomedical problems of space flight. At the Wright Air Development Division, the astronauts were indoctrinated with the Mercury pressure suit, operation of the suit in low pressure and heat chambers, on the centrifuge, and during weightless flying. At the Naval Medical Research Institute, they were familiarized with the physiological effects of a high CO2 content in the environment. The Army Ballistic Missile Agency indoctrinated the astronauts on the Redstone. The Air Force Ballistic Missile Division and its associated contractors indoctrinated the astronauts on the Atlas.

2. Star Recognition. Each astronaut was given concentrated personal instruction on the elements of celestial navigation and on star recognition at the Morehear Planetarium, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, during February 1961. A trainer simulating the celestial view through a capsule window permitted astronaut practice in correcting yaw drift.

3. Desrt Survival. a 5 1/2 day course in desert survival training was accomplished at the U.S. Air Force Training Command Survival School at Stead Air Force Base, Nevada. The course consisted of survival techniques through lectures, demonstrations, and application in a representative desert environment. The Mercury survival kit was also evaluated.

4. Egress Training. During March and April 1960 open-water normal egress training was conducted in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida. Each astronaut made at least 2 egresses through the upper hatch. State 3-4 seas (up to 10-foot swells) were experienced. Water survival training was also accomplished during this program. A training program of the side hatch egress was accomplished in August 1960 at Langley. Each of the astronauts made underwater egresses, some of which were made in the Mercury pressure suit.

5. Specialty Assignments. The astronauts contributed to the Mercury development progress by working directly with Space Task Group engineers and by attending NASA-McDonnell coordination meetings and Mercury-Redstone or Mercury-Atlas panel meetings in their specialty areas. Astronaut specialy areas are:

• Carpenter - Communication equipment and procedures, periscope operation, navigational aids and procedures.
• Cooper - Redstone booster, including configuration, trajectory, areodynamics, countdown, and flight procedures.
• Glenn - Cockpit layout or configuration, instrumentation, and controls for capsule and simulation.
• Grissom - Reaction control systems, hand controller, autopilot and horizon scanners.
• Shirra - Envirnmental control systems, pilot suport and restraint, pressure suit, aeromedical monitoring.
• Shepherd - Recovery systems, parachutes, recovery aids, recovery procedures and range network.
• Slayton - Atlas booster and escape system including configuration, trajectory, aerodynamics, countdown, and flight procedures.

Some of the more specific training programs and equipment are:

1. Centrifuge Programs. During the three Johnsville centrifuge programs, astronauts received extensive training in the full-scale simulation of the Mercutry-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas flights and the aborts associated with each type of trajectory. The primary purpose of these three programs was to give the astronauts training in capsule attitude and rate control, monitoring normal sequencing functions, and rectifying emergency problems while being exposed to environmental conditions that might be associated with the Mercury-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas profiles. The environmental factors emphasized during these programs were acceleration.reduced cabin pressure, and Mercury pressure suit condition, and the effects of these conditions on astronaut performance. The astronauts also received additional training with voice communications and code. Further evaluation of the McDonnell hand controller, couch, capsule lighting and instrument design was also accomplished during these programs.

2. Weightless Flying. The astronauts received familiarization with weightlessness by being flown as passengers through several parabolic trajectories in C131, C135, and F-100 type aircraft. The duration of wheightlessness varied from 15 seconds to a minute, and the number of parabolas per flight waried from 3 to 24, depending upon the type of aircraft being used. Each astronaut has experienced approximately 40 minutes of weightlessness. During these flights, data were collected on the astronaut's ability to perform a simple tracking task, changes in normal speech, experience in eating and drinking, visual acuity and visual orientation problem for various body positions, and post weightlessness psychomotor testing.

3. Procedures Trainer. The procedures trainer is a complete mockup of the Mercury spacecraft with operating instruments and controls connected to an anolog computer to simulate all flight conditions. This trainer enables astronaut training with practically all of the environmental variables of the Mercury-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas trajectories with the exception of the involved accelerations. Primary emphasis has been astronaut training on the spacecraft systems, operations and procedures. Voice communications and pressure suit experience is also accomplished during ehis program. Because of the trainer flexibility, the astronaut can practice with any of the control-display modes utilizing a variety of retrorire misalignment torques and reentry oscillations. Astronauts have concentrated on flying Mercury-Redstone mission simulations for the past several months, but they have also had extensive training in flying the Mercury-Atlas mission, controlling capsule attitude and rates during retrofire practice sessions, and resolving a multitude of inflight system failures.

4. ALFA Trainer. The astronauts received extensive training in the Air Lubricated Free Axis Trainer utilizing a periscope display or a window with a simulated earth horizon for controlling actual capsule attitudes and rates during orbit and retrorocket firing. The astronauts control the capsule by a Reaction Control System consisting of pressurized air reaction control nozzles. The astronauts received periodic training in the ALFA trainer for the past year.

5. MASTIF. In March 1960 the astronauts received training in the multiple azes space test inertial facility located at NASA-Lewis Research Center. The purpose of the study was twofold; (1) to give the astronauts familiarization with the physiological and psychological effects of tumbling, and (2) to recover from tumbling when it occurs. A slow buildup of axes and rates was used to a maximum of 30 rpm rotating about all three axes. The astronauts in all cases were able to stop sumbling in a relatively short period of time, using the Mercury-type rate indicator and hand controller.

6. Summary of Experience in Pressure Suit. The astronauts have had extensive experience in the pressure suit, a good deal of it while undergoing training for Mercury-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas flight missions. During the early Mercury pressure suit development stage, much of the astronaut's experience in the suit has been concerned with fittings both at Goodrich and Langley. In the past year, however, almost all the training in the Centrifuge Procedures Trainers, Egress Trainer, Environmental Control Trainer at ACEL, and weightlessness flight training have incorporated the Mercury pressure suit in their overall training programs.

7. Flight Record. The astronauts maintain flying proficiency as part of their regulas astronaut training activities. Currently two F-106s have been assigned to them for these purposes. The astronauts continue to obtain regular proficiency and annual instrument checks in T-33 aircraft assigned to the Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.