Project Mercury also excluded civilian NASA X-15 pilot Neil Armstrong, though he had been selected by the US Air Force in 1958 for its Man In Space Soonest program, which was replaced by Mercury. Although Armstrong had been a combat-experienced NAP during the Korean War, he left active duty in 1952. Armstrong became NASA's first civilian astronaut in 1962 when he was selected for NASA's second group, and became the first man on the Moon in 1969. It was further stipulated that candidates should be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than , and hold a college degree in a
Neil Armstrong political parties, he declined the offers. He described his political leanings as favoring states' rights and opposing the United States acting as the "world's policeman". When Armstrong applied at a local Methodist church to lead a Boy Scout troop in the late 1950s, he gave his religious affiliation as "deist". His mother later said that Armstrong's religious views caused her grief and distress in later life, as she was more religious. In the early 1980s, Armstrong was the subject of a hoax saying that he converted to Islam after hearing the "adhan", the Muslim call to prayer, while walking on