- Title: Deke Slayton
- Author: NASA
- Date: c.1959
- Condition: Good - Heavy crease across middle of photograph
- Inches: 4 x 5 [Photograph]
- Centimeters: 10.16 x 12.70 [Photograph]
- Product ID: 308607
Original photograph of Deke Slayton printed by NASA.
Deke Slayton, born in Sparta, Wisconsin on March 1, 1924, was an American Air Force pilot, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and one of the original seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA in 1959. He flew 56 combat missions during World War II as a B-25 pilot in both Europe and the Pacific and later earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1949. Although he was scheduled for the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, he was medically disqualified in 1962 due to atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm.
After being grounded, Slayton remained at NASA, serving as the first Chief Astronaut and as Director of Flight Crew Operations, overseeing crew selection for the Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab programs and helping choose Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 moon landing. Restored to active flight status in 1972, Slayton flew his only mission as Apollo docking module pilot for the historic Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, marking the first international space rendezvous between the U.S. and USSR. He continued managing Space Shuttle testing and retired from NASA in 1982, passing away from brain cancer on June 13, 1993 at the age of 69.