Mercury Seven summon the last group. The tests included spending hours on treadmills and tilt tables, submerging their feet in ice water, three doses of castor oil, and five enemas. Six candidates were rejected as too tall for the planned spacecraft. Another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to take part in the second round of tests, which eliminated eight more candidates, leaving 18. From the 18, the first seven NASA astronauts were chosen, each a "superb physical specimen" with an IQ above 130, and the ability to function well both as part of
The Seven Fields of Aphelion The Seven Fields of Aphelion The Seven Fields of Aphelion is the stage name of Maureen "Maux" Boyle, an ambient electronic musician and member of the band Black Moth Super Rainbow. Boyle grew up in Pittsburgh and took piano lessons from an early age, but did not begin writing her own songs until college. She joined the group Black Moth Super Rainbow as a synthesizer player in the early 2000s, but in contrast to that group's experimental psychedelic electronica, Boyle's solo music tends more toward what one reviewer called "a patchwork quilt of ambient soundscapes." She had been working on