The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.
---Blaise Pascal
NASA Group 4 - 1965
Number: 6. Selection announced: 28 June 1965. Requirement: Provide scientist-astronauts for Apollo lunar landing and earth-orbit space station missions. Qualification: Doctorate in natural sciences, medicine, or engineering. Under 35 years old, under 183 cm height, excellent health. US citizen. Nickname: The Scientists.
1,351 applicants. The National Academy of Science was responsible for the final selection. NASA planned to select up to twenty, but the quality of the applicants was considered so poor that only six were named. Of those, four would fly in space. Geologist Schmitt would walk on the moon on the last Apollo mission, and only after pressure from the scientific community. The other three would fly on Skylab. Only Garriot would fly twice, supplementing his 59 days on Skylab with a ten-day shuttle mission.