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
Perry A. Armstrong Illinois House of Representatives, representing Will and Grundy counties. Armstrong was a war Democrat and always favored the Union, being a friend of both President Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas. During the war he took on the duty of procuring horses for the army. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, and formed the law partnership Olin and Armstrong with Benjamin Olin. Olin withdrew from the firm in 1870, and Armstrong ran the firm as sole proprietor from that time forward. In 1872 he was elected to the 28th Illinois General Assembly. In his later life he wrote