NASA Astronaut Group 2 Press Conference (1962)

Duration: 9:13

Year Published: 1962

Sound: sound

Description: In April 1962, NASA launched a widely advertised campaign for its Flight Crew Training Program. More than 200 candidates applied. This unedited footage for Houston’s KPRC-TV captures a press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) on September 17, 1962, introducing the nine men NASA ultimately selected. The second group of NASA astronauts, known as the New Nine, included Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White, and John Young. Dr. Robert Gilruth, MSC director, and Stuart Clarke, MSC director of personnel, join the astronauts on stage to take questions from journalists representing news outlets from all over the country. Among the press pool is native Texan Dan Rather, then a correspondent for CBS News.