Talk:Chief of the Astronaut Office

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I thought Deke Slayton was the first chief. Slayton was originally slated to fly Mercury 7 in 1962, but was grounded by NASA Administrator James Webb due to a heart rhythm irregularity. Between his grounding in 1962 and Alan Shepard's grounding in 1964 due to his Meniere's Syndrome, the active Mercury Seven astronauts made him the Chief of the Astronaut Office in order to prevent a non-astronaut from being brought in from the Air Force or Navy to boss the astronauts (then all of them military test pilots) to run the Astronaut Office. Only in 1964 did Shepard took over as Chief of the Astronaut Office when Slayton became Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC.