From the selection of the Mercury astronauts in 1959 to the International Space Station missions of the 21st century, the training sequence has met the challenges of preparing astronauts for flight far more often than it has failed.

This book draws on interviews with 19 astronauts and Johnson Space Center instructors, as well as sources ranging from books, to articles, to technical reports and archival documents, and explains in detail why this statement is true. Any objective observer cannot help but feel impressed with the consistency by which astronauts have praised their training and the successful mission performances that resulted from that training. This book also explains the training inadequacies, and the lessons learned from them.

As the 21st century begins new programs will take humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo era. Whether operated by a government or a company like SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origins, or Sierra Nevada, instructors and astronauts will have a largely successful training model to emulate along with a vital list of lessons learned.

We live in what scholars call a “knowledge society.” Astronaut training is relevant because it reflects a widespread development throughout modern society: teaching complex tasks to workers whose jobs require knowledge and not simply physical labor. Organizations, including the visionaries in the public and private sector who seek to place human bootprints on Mars, must continue to adapt to that challenge through creative approaches to training and carry on the legacy of the seven young men selected as Mercury astronauts nearly sixty years ago.