Chapter 4, "The Lab Rat" Summary

Pete Conrad's Group 20, including Wally Schirra and Jim Lovell, have just finished their flight-test training. About half of them receive orders marked "top secret," ordering them to report to a certain room at the Pentagon dressed as civilians. When they arrive they realize it is a gathering of test pilots from all over the country. Two of the highest-ranking engineers in NASA speak to them about volunteering for the space program. Knowing that pilots don't want to be just "Spam in a can," the experts emphasize situations where an astronaut would have to pilot the craft manually. They also speak of the program's danger and assure the pilots that if a man does not volunteer it will not be entered on his record nor be held against him in any way.

That night Conrad, Wally...