# A couple of questions about the Mercury 7

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions-about-the-mercury-7/690977>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 17, 2014, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions-about-the-mercury-7/690977 "2014-06-17T10:17:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions-about-the-mercury-7/690977/21 "2014-06-17T22:03:46Z")

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> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Well, at least he had a good singing career with his sister to sustain him.

If Mama Cass had just shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter.

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**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions-about-the-mercury-7/690977/22 "2014-06-17T22:09:43Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> If Mama Cass had just shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter.

They could have formed a duet called 10.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions-about-the-mercury-7/690977/23 "2014-06-17T22:53:06Z")

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> [@Frazzled](#):
>
> Alan Shepard. Very skilled and competent Navy pilot which is the reason he was selected to be the first American astronaut to go up. He was somewhat bipolar in that he was either very gregarious and joking, or very icy and serious. Nobody liked the icy side. He was apparently the most unfaithful of the 7 to his wife, and that’s saying something. He was grounded because of an inner ear disease during Gemini and worked in the astronaut office with Deke Slayton. During Apollo he had surgery to fix his ear and received clearance to fly. He’s the only one of the original Mercury 7 to actually walk on the moon.
> 
> Gus Grissom. Well liked but very quiet and serious. Was considered an exceptional engineer. As I mentioned above, nobody thought he panicked under pressure.

Astronauts wear diapers on launch, because Alan Shepard took his flight with wet pants. No bathroom provisions were made because they weren’t believed necessary, but the launch was delayed by a few hours and he just couldn’t hold it any longer. :eek: As for his notorious womanizing, said to reach Gene-Simmons-esque (but not quite Wilt Chamberlain-esque) levels, his wife, who stayed with him, said, “I’m the one he really loves.” Like any other marriage, only they knew what really happened, KWIM?

As for allegations of Gus Grissom’s womanizing, heavily alluded to in the “Astronaut Wives” book, some years back I read a biography of him co-written by his wife, who never remarried and is still living, and she said she never suspected him of infidelity. I guess she’d know him better than anyone.

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