[PROJECT MERCURY]. MARTIN CAIDIN. "THE ASTRONAUTS." SIGNED BY THE MERCURY 7

THE STORY OF PROJECT MERCURY, AMERICA'S MAN-IN-SPACE PROGRAM 

SIGNED BY THE MERCURY SEVEN

CAIDIN, MARTIN. The Astronauts. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1960. 7 7/8 by 5 1/4 inches. Original black cloth, pictorially printed jacket. Some foxing primarily to endleaves, minor toning, minor rubbing to extremities, closed tears and old tape to jacket, some foxing and soiling.  

INSCRIBED by the crew on the front free endpaper, "BEST OF WISHES & WARM REGARDS | TO SYLVIA FROM THE MERCURY ASTRONAUTS," and SIGNED by LEROY GORDON COOPER, DONALD "DEKE" SLAYTON, WALTER W. SCHIRRA, VIRGIL "GUS" GRISSOM, ALAN SHEPARD, JOHN GLENN, and SCOTT CARPENTER. 

Caidin was an American author, as well as an authority on aeronautics and aviation. He began writing fiction in 1957, and would author more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books, and over 1,000 magazine articles. Here, with great detail, Caidin has constructed a gripping account of the origins of Project Mercury, its astronauts, and their rigorous training leading up to the selection of one man for America's first orbital flight.