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 Stars Inn for indicating the direction North. "The Plough" is also a common pub name. The reference to "seven stars in the sky" in the famous Green Grow the Rushes O! Teaching Song or Dilly Song gives further, if mystical, insights. The Seven Stars could be the Seven Stars referred to in Revelations as representing the seven angels of the Seven churches of Asia; or the Pleiades, or Ursa Major. The song is replete with Christian and Pre-Christian symbolism, and dates to medieval times, if not earlier. Shakespeare refers to the "seven stars" in King Lear Act 1, v The Seven Stars