Project Mercury: the catch-up crash program to put an American into space. The technology was in its infancy. The rockets were unproven. The gamble was enormous. And the pressure was on, because the Russians were already up there. To man Project Mercury, America needed pilots with "the right stuff"--Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton, the men who were chosen to launch the U.S. into space.