NASA Astronaut Group 21 eight people, Jessica Meir, Ph.D., Major Nicole Mann, Lt. Commander Josh Cassada, Ph.D., Lt. Colonel Tyler Hague, Cristina Hammock, Major Andrew Morgan, M.D., Lt. Commander Victor Glover, and Major Anne McClain. On April 9, 1959 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the finalists for Astronaut Group 1. This group of seven astronauts, also sometimes known as the "Original Seven" or the "Mercury Seven" were a part of the first human spaceflight program, called Project Mercury. Since the original group, the total number of astronaut groups has grown to 22 as of 2017. The class joined 47 other active
Seven Society that a more "beneficial organization" was needed. The only known method to successfully contact the Seven Society is to place a letter at the Thomas Jefferson statue inside the University's historic Rotunda (accounts differ on the exact placement of the letter, either on the base or in the crook of the statue's arm). The group contributes financially to the University, announcing donations with letters signed only with seven astronomical symbols in the order: Earth, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Neptune, Uranus, and Venus. The Society gives large monetary donations and scholarships to the University each year in quantities that include the number