1 Table of Contents: “... Nation -- Splashdown...”

2 “...TO A NATION enthralled by the heroic exploits of the Mercury astronauts, the launch of Lt. Cmdr...”

3 “.... These briefings were designed to assist in selecting a group of astronauts for the newly formed National...”

4 “... launched atop notoriously unreliable rockets at the very dawn of human space exploration.   A nation...”

5 “... and horrifically short in a launch pad fire that shocked the nation.  ...”

6 “...Mounting pressure in the early 1960s from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study ways...”

7 “... and continued to do so for many years after. Other latter-day space nations, such as France and China, would...”