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Project Mercury was the United States' first human spaceflight program. Delmas D. "Del" Burchfield (1926-2016) was an engineer at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation who in 1959 was put in charge of the Outside Production Quality Program monitoring all vendors and subcontractors working on Project Mercury. This collection consists of a signed 11 by 8.5 inch black and white photograph of the seven Project Mercury astronauts, two smaller black and white photographs of Delmas D. "Del" Burchfield taken in the 1960s, and several pages from a handwritten memoir by Burchfield in which he describes his experiences working on Project Mercury and with the astronauts.
Soon after the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), that agency selected Project Mercury as the United States' first human spaceflight program. From 1958 to 1963 Project Mercury included numerous uncrewed missions and six crewed flights in which the Mercury astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom; John Herschel Glenn, Jr.; Malcolm Scott Carpenter; Walter Marty "Wally" Schirra, Jr.; Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton; and Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. accomplished many objectives including putting the first American in space and the first American into orbit. Delmas D. "Del" Burchfield (1926-2016) was an engineer at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation who in 1959 was put in charge of the Outside Production Quality Program monitoring all vendors and subcontractors working on Project Mercury. In this position, Burchfield worked closely with the Mercury astronauts, particularly John Glenn.
NASM.2022.0015
Burchfield, Delmas D. "Del", 1926-2016
1960s and undated
David Burchfield, Gift, 2022, NASM.2022.0015.
0.01 Cubic feet (1 folder)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of an 11 by 8.5 inch black and white photograph of the seven Project Mercury astronauts, Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom; John Herschel Glenn, Jr.; Malcolm Scott Carpenter; Walter Marty "Wally" Schirra, Jr.; Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton; and Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., each of whom has signed the photograph. The collection also includes two smaller black and white photographs of Delmas D. "Del" Burchfield taken in the 1960s as well as several pages from a handwritten memoir by Burchfield in which he describes his experiences working on Project Mercury and with the astronauts. Note: Images of pages 1 and 6 of the handwritten memoir excerpt have been redacted to remove personal information. The redacted portions do not pertain to Burchfield's work on Project Mercury.
Collection is in original order.
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Project Mercury Astronaut Photograph [Burchfield], NASM.2022.0015, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Astronauts
Mercury Project
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Manuscripts