Mercury Seven part-time student at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1956 to 1959. Both astronauts were ultimately awarded their bachelor's degrees after their 1962 space flights. NASA introduced the astronauts in Washington on April 9, 1959. Although the agency viewed Project Mercury's purpose as an experiment to determine whether humans could survive space travel, the seven men immediately became national heroes and were compared by "Time" magazine to "Columbus, Magellan, Daniel Boone, and the Wright brothers." Two hundred reporters overflowed the room used for the announcement and alarmed the astronauts, who were unused to such a large audience. Because they
The Temperance Seven firstly as The New Temperance Seven, and was instrumental in arranging their appearances in Hong Kong and Bahrain, where he eventually settled to be replaced by Ian Howarth. The band continued to perform with new personnel and, from time to time, original members made guest appearances. During the 1980s, Chris Hook took over leadership of the band. The personnel have not changed since that time and the band continues to work around the UK. Many members of the original band reunited for a BBC Radio programme about the group in 2003. The Temperance Seven dressed in a manner appropriate to