Deke Slayton: The Astronaut Who Chose the Astronauts | Mercury Seven to Apollo–Soyuz

Deke Slayton helped decide who would fly some of the most important missions in the history of human spaceflight.In this episode of Orbital Briefing, host Ron Walker explores the remarkable story of Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven who became one of the most powerful figures inside NASA.Grounded early in his career due to a heart condition, Slayton never left the astronaut corps. Instead, he became Director of Flight Crew Operations and helped assign crews for Project Gemini, the Apollo program, and the missions that would eventually land humans on the Moon.For more than a decade, astronauts waited for one thing from Deke Slayton: a flight assignment.Then, after sixteen years of waiting, Slayton finally got his own chance to fly aboard the historic Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first international partnership in human spaceflight.In this episode we explore:• The selection of the Mercury Seven astronauts• How astronaut crews were chosen during the Space Race• Slayton’s influence on Gemini and Apollo missions• The leadership that shaped NASA’s astronaut corps• The mission that finally sent Slayton into spaceThe American Spaceplane: A Story of Ambition, Risk, and ReinventionDownload the book on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQS1VG8XFollow all things space atRetroJetStudios.comNew episodes of Orbital Briefing drop every other Thursday.Next episode: Artemis — Returning to the Moon. 🚀This episode is sponsored by the book