1960
The original "Mercury Seven" astronauts, L. Gordon Cooper, M. Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Virgil I. Grissom, Walter Schirra and Donald K. Slayton wear clothing fashioned from parachutes during desert survival training at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada.
Image: NASA
NASA scientists faced innumerable challenges in their efforts to prepare the first astronauts for the rigors and dangers of spaceflight. Along with endless varieties of technical training, astronauts also had to learn to survive in the wilderness should their reentry craft land off target.
Beginning with the original “Mercury Seven” in 1960, astronauts were brought to Stead Air Force Base in Nevada to practice desert survival techniques, crafting improvised shelters and clothing out of parachutes.
Astronauts were also trained to build shelters, find food and water and identify venomous snakes in the jungles of Panama.
The American, European and Russian space agencies continue to practice wilderness survival training today, routinely stranding candidates for space missions in scorching deserts, frozen forests and empty oceans — just in case.
Aug. 13, 1964
Frank Borman, Neil Armstrong, John Young and Deke Slayton during desert survival training in Nevada.
Image: NASA
1960
Image: NASA
August 1967
Alfred M. Worden uses a mirror to flash signals for search aircraft.
Image: Photo12/UIG/Getty Images
Aug. 14, 1967
Air Force Col. Chester Bohart poses with astronauts John L. Swigert, Thomas K Mattingly and Charles M. Duke, Jr.
Image: NASA
1964
Astronauts pose during desert training at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada. Front row: Frank Borman; James A. Lovell; John W. Young; Charles Conrad; James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White. Back row: Ray Zedehar (Astronaut Training Officer); Thomas P. Stafford; Donald K. Slayton; Neil A. Armstrong and Elliot M. See.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
August 1964
Jack Lousma, Don Lind and William Pogue pass the time in an improvised shelter.
Image: NASA
Edward H. White.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
James A. Lovell.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
Donald K. Slayton.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
John W. Young.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
1964
Frank Borman.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
1964
Image: NASA
June 3, 1963
Astronauts sample wild-caught food during jungle survival training in Panama.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
June 10, 1963
Astronauts listen to a lecture on jungle survival.
Image: Keystone-France/Getty Images
July 1967
Alfred Worden, Harrison Schmitt and Ronald Evans gather leaves and branches to build a lean-to.
Image: NASA
1963
Mercury astronauts learn jungle survival techniques in Panama.
Image: NASA
1963
John Glenn and Neil Armstrong during jungle survival training in Panama.
Image: Pool NASA/REFLEX/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
-
Curation:
MORE FROM RETRONAUT
Kindertransport: A desperate effort to save children from the Holocaust
The old-school lumberjacks who felled giant trees with axes
Antique mourning jewelry contained the hair of the deceased
Rosie the Riveter IRL: Meet the women who built WWII planes
The streets of 1970s New York City: A decade of urban decay
35 years ago, grief at the scene of John Lennon's murder
This WWII women's dorm was the hippest spot in town
Rarely seen images from the Walt Disney Archives
White sand, black gold: When oil derricks loomed over California beaches
Chicago in ruins: The unimaginable aftermath of the Great Fire of 1871
If Google Street View existed in 1911
Before the Holocaust, Nazis targeted so-called 'Gypsies'