Man into Orbit

New York: Avon Book Division, The Hearst Corporation, 1961. Reprint. Presumed first edition/first printing thus. Mass market paperback. fair to good. Pocket paperback. 126, [2] pages. Wraps. Illustrations (32 photos and diagrams). Map. Some weakness to front cover. Pages somewhat darkened. Cover edges worn and corners bent. Small tear at spine. The original title of this work was Seven into Space. Joseph Bell was a columnist for the Daily Pilot, and the Los Angeles Times before that, for more than two decades. Joe's account of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts is still highly-sought after as a seminal reference piece about the early stages of the United States Space Program. Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted twenty uncrewed developmental flights (some using animals), and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.2 billion adjusted for inflation. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.