Classic English · History · Lesson map

A Space Gene?

Between 1959 and 1967 NASA chose 66 men to fly into space. Five hundred years earlier, a different group of men sailed off the edge of the known map. Put both groups on one map of Europe and look at where their families came from.

NASA portrait, 1960s

The explorers17 MEN · BY BIRTHPLACE

The astronauts66 MEN · BY FAMILY ORIGIN

What the map shows

The explorers' centre of gravity sits in south-western France, pulled there by Genoa, Lisbon and Seville. The astronauts' centre of gravity sits in the North Sea, pulled there by families from Britain, Germany and the Low Countries. Between them is a shift of about kilometres north. It makes sense that the center of gravity shifts northward for space exploration because, after all, space is cold.

How the astronauts were placed: each man is pinned to the country his surname comes from, unless a source shows his documented family line. Three entries are sourced (Carpenter, Schirra, Cernan, shown in blue on the name list); the other 63 are surname assumptions. A centre of gravity is the average position of all the pins in a group, with each astronaut country weighted by how many men it holds.

History · 1957–1969

The Race

The Soviet Union put the first satellite into orbit in October 1957. A year later the United States founded NASA, and in April 1959 it named its first seven astronauts. For the next six years the Soviets reached almost every milestone first, and the Americans answered, sometimes within weeks. In 1965 the lead changed hands, and by 1969 only one country had put men on the Moon.

The seven Mercury astronauts in silver pressure suits and helmets, posed in two rows against a blue backdrop — The Mercury Seven, NASA, 1959

Milestone	Soviet first	American answer	Gap
Human in space	Gagarin, Vostok 1, Apr 12, 1961	Shepard, Freedom 7, May 5, 1961	23 days
Human in orbit	Gagarin, Apr 12, 1961	Glenn, Friendship 7, Feb 20, 1962	314 days
Sleep in space	Titov, Vostok 2, Aug 1961	Cooper, Faith 7, May 1963	647 days
Woman in space	Tereshkova, Vostok 6, June 16, 1963	Sally Ride, 1983	20 years
Crew of more than one	Voskhod 1, Oct 12, 1964	Gemini 3, Mar 23, 1965	162 days
Spacewalk	Leonov, Voskhod 2, Mar 18, 1965	White, Gemini 4, June 3, 1965	77 days
Soft landing on the Moon (no crew)	Luna 9, Feb 3, 1966	Surveyor 1, June 2, 1966	119 days
Docking two craft in orbit	Soyuz 4 and 5, Jan 1969	Gemini 8, Mar 16, 1966 (first)	US ahead by 2 yr 10 mo
Humans around the Moon	Zond 5 carried tortoises, Sept 1968	Apollo 8, Dec 1968 (first humans)	3 months
Humans on the Moon	Never	Apollo 11, July 20, 1969	—

Mercury1961–1963 · ONE MAN

Apr 12, 1961Vostok 1. Yuri Gagarin orbits Earth once, the first human in space.Soviet first
May 5, 1961Freedom 7. Alan Shepard flies a 15-minute up-and-down hop, 23 days after Gagarin.
Feb 20, 1962Friendship 7. John Glenn circles Earth three times in 4 hours 55 minutes, the first American in orbit.
May 15–16, 1963Faith 7. Gordon Cooper stays up 34 hours 19 minutes and flies the capsule home by hand after its electrics fail.Longest Mercury flight
June 16, 1963Vostok 6. Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.Soviet first

An Atlas rocket lifting off beside a red launch tower, with white clouds of exhaust — Friendship 7 launch, Cape Canaveral, February 20, 1962

Black-and-white photograph of Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov in flight jackets in front of a helicopter — Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov, signed photograph

Gemini1965–1966 · TWO MEN

Mar 18, 1965Voskhod 2. Alexei Leonov makes the first spacewalk.Soviet first
June 3, 1965Gemini 4. Ed White makes the first American spacewalk, 77 days after Leonov.
Aug 1965Gemini 5. Cooper and Pete Conrad stay up 190 hours 56 minutes, long enough for a trip to the Moon and back. The endurance record passes to the United States.Endurance record
Dec 1965Gemini 7 and 6A. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spend almost 14 days in orbit. Gemini 6A flies up to meet them, the first rendezvous of two crewed spacecraft.First rendezvous
Mar 16, 1966Gemini 8. Neil Armstrong and David Scott dock with a target vehicle, the first docking in orbit.First docking
Sept 1966Gemini 11. Conrad and Richard Gordon climb to about 1,370 km above Earth.Highest Earth orbit of the era

From Gemini 5 on, the Americans lead.

An astronaut floating in space on a gold tether above Earth, with a gold visor and an American flag on his shoulder — Ed White's spacewalk, Gemini 4, June 3, 1965

A Gemini spacecraft above the curve of the Earth, seen from another spacecraft — Gemini 7 seen from Gemini 6A, December 1965

Apollo1967–1969 · THREE MEN

Jan 27, 1967Apollo 1. A fire in the capsule during a launch-pad test kills Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
Dec 21–27, 1968Apollo 8. Borman, Lovell and William Anders ride the first crewed Saturn V, 110.6 metres tall, and become the first humans to leave Earth's orbit, circle the Moon and see its far side.First to the Moon
May 1969Apollo 10. The dress rehearsal flies to within 15 km of the lunar surface. Coming home, its crew reaches 39,937 km/h, the fastest any humans have travelled. The record still stands.Fastest humans ever
July 20–21, 1969Apollo 11. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the Moon while Michael Collins orbits above. Armstrong steps onto the surface at 02:56 UTC on July 21.First on the Moon

The Earth, partly lit, rising above the grey horizon of the Moon against black space — "Earthrise," Apollo 8, December 24, 1968

A Saturn V rocket lifting off beside its red launch tower, with orange flame and smoke at its base — Apollo 11 launch, July 16, 1969

An astronaut in a white spacesuit standing on the Moon, the lunar module reflected in his gold visor — Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, Apollo 11, July 20, 1969

Biographies · 12 of the 66

The Men

Almost every one of the 66 came through the same door: a military academy or an engineering degree, then years as a military pilot, then test-pilot school. Read the twelve cards below. Each one ends with the same three lines, so you can compare where the men came from, how they got in, and what they flew.

A test pilot in a silver pressure suit holding his helmet, standing beside a black X-15 rocket plane on the ramp at Edwards Air Force Base — Scott Crossfield, North American Aviation's chief engineering test pilot, with the X-15 at Edwards, June 8, 1959

Alan Shepard in a Mercury helmet and silver pressure suit

Alan Shepard1923–1998

Born in East Derry, New Hampshire, the son of an army officer. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1944 and served on a destroyer in the Pacific, then became a navy pilot and a test pilot at Patuxent River. On May 5, 1961, he became the first American in space, 23 days after Gagarin. An inner-ear disorder grounded him for years. Surgery fixed it, and he walked on the Moon in 1971 at age 47.

Map pin: England
Route in: Naval Academy → navy pilot → test pilot
Flights: Freedom 7, Apollo 14

John Glenn1921–2016

Born in Cambridge, Ohio, the son of a plumber. He left Muskingum College to fly for the Marines in the Second World War, then shot down three MiGs in Korea. In 1957 he made the first supersonic flight across the United States. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit Earth. He later served 24 years as a U.S. senator and returned to space at 77.

Map pin: Scotland
Route in: College → Marine pilot → test pilot
Flights: Friendship 7, STS-95

Gordon Cooper1927–2004

Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. His father flew with the National Guard, and Cooper flew solo unofficially at 12. He served in the Marines, flew fighters for the Air Force in West Germany, and earned an aerospace engineering degree. He was the youngest of the seven. He flew the last Mercury mission home by hand after its electrics failed.

Map pin: England
Route in: Marines → Air Force pilot → engineering degree → Edwards test pilot
Flights: Faith 7, Gemini 5

Gus Grissom in a suit beside a model rocket and an American flag

Gus Grissom1926–1967

Born in Mitchell, Indiana. He worked his way through a mechanical engineering degree at Purdue and flew 100 combat missions in Korea. He was the second American in space, but his capsule, Liberty Bell 7, sank after splashdown and he nearly drowned. He commanded Gemini 3, the first American two-man flight. He died in the Apollo 1 fire.

Map pin: England
Route in: Purdue → Air Force pilot → test pilot
Flights: Liberty Bell 7, Gemini 3

Wally Schirra in a silver Mercury pressure suit

Wally Schirra1923–2007

Born in Hackensack, New Jersey. His father was a barnstorming pilot and his mother did wing-walking stunts. His grandfather came from Loco, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1945 and flew 90 combat missions in Korea. He is the only astronaut who flew Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

Map pin: Switzerland
Route in: Naval Academy → navy pilot → test pilot
Flights: Sigma 7, Gemini 6A, Apollo 7

Scott Carpenter in a suit, arms folded on a green cloth, beside an American flag

Scott Carpenter1925–2013

Born in Boulder, Colorado, and raised by his grandparents. His family tree runs through English, Swiss-German, Dutch and Ulster Scots lines. He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Colorado and flew navy patrol planes in Korea. On Aurora 7 in 1962 he landed about 400 km off target. Later he lived on the sea floor as an aquanaut in the navy's SEALAB program.

Map pin: England
Route in: University → navy pilot → test pilot
Flights: Aurora 7

Deke Slayton in a white spacesuit beside a model of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft

Deke Slayton1924–1993

Born on a farm near Sparta, Wisconsin. He flew bombers over Europe and the Pacific in the Second World War, then earned an aeronautical engineering degree at the University of Minnesota. An irregular heartbeat grounded him before his Mercury flight, so he ran the astronaut office and chose the crews. He finally flew in 1975, 16 years after he was selected.

Map pin: England
Route in: Bomber pilot → engineering degree → Edwards test pilot
Flights: Apollo–Soyuz

Neil Armstrong1930–2012

Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He had a pilot's licence before a driver's licence. He went to Purdue on a navy scholarship and flew 78 combat missions in Korea. As a civilian test pilot at Edwards he flew the X-15 rocket plane seven times. He saved Gemini 8 when a thruster stuck. On July 21, 1969, he became the first person to walk on the Moon.

Map pin: Scotland
Route in: Purdue → navy pilot → civilian test pilot
Flights: Gemini 8, Apollo 11

Buzz Aldrin smiling in a white spacesuit in front of a photograph of the Moon

Buzz Aldrinb. 1930

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. His mother's maiden name was Moon. He graduated third in his class at West Point and shot down two MiGs in Korea. He then earned a doctorate at MIT with a thesis on how spacecraft meet in orbit, which earned him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous." On Gemini 12 he showed that spacewalks could be done without exhaustion.

Map pin: Scandinavia
Route in: West Point → Air Force pilot → MIT doctorate
Flights: Gemini 12, Apollo 11

Michael Collins1930–2021

Born in Rome, the son of a U.S. Army general, and raised on army bases around the world. He graduated from West Point and became an Air Force test pilot at Edwards. He flew Gemini 10, and on Apollo 11 he circled the Moon alone while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on it.

Map pin: Ireland
Route in: West Point → Air Force pilot → Edwards test pilot
Flights: Gemini 10, Apollo 11

Frank Borman in a suit beside an American flag

Frank Borman1928–2023

Born in Gary, Indiana. He graduated from West Point and earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at Caltech. He taught at West Point and flew as an Air Force test pilot. He commanded Gemini 7's 14 days in orbit and Apollo 8, the first flight to the Moon. Later he ran Eastern Air Lines.

Map pin: Germany
Route in: West Point → Caltech → test pilot
Flights: Gemini 7, Apollo 8

Gene Cernan1934–2017

Born in Chicago to a Slovak father and a Czech mother. He studied electrical engineering at Purdue on a navy scholarship and became a navy pilot. He flew Apollo 10 down to 15.6 km above the Moon. In 1972 he was the last man to walk on its surface.

Map pin: Czech / Slovak
Route in: Purdue → navy pilot → postgraduate school
Flights: Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, Apollo 17

3went to Purdue

3went to West Point

2went to the Naval Academy

11of 12 were military pilots when chosen. Armstrong had left the navy and was a civilian test pilot.