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| The 20 January "Project Apollo Schedule" called for 16 Mercury Atlas missions from July 1963 through the end of 1965. With the first Mercury Manned One-Day Mission (MODM) then planned for launch in May 1962 as Mercury Atlas 9, and assuming additional MODMs to follow at two month intervals, the first Mercury Atlas mission referred to in the Apollo schedule should have been eighth MODM and the 16th Mercury Atlas mission; therefore the series would have ended with Mercuty Atlas 31. This extended series of MODMs was intended to provide the spaceflight experience that new groups of astronauts would need before operating the more advanced Apollo spacecraft, which was then projected to begin Earth orbital missions in 1965 or 1966, and to fly men around the Moon by 1970. As the goal of the Apollo program became ambitious after May 1961, the extended MODM series evolved into a more capable Mercury Mark II spacecraft, and ultimately into the Gemini program.
Interpolating from NASA planning documents, a 17th MODM would have been scheduled for launch on 1 January 1965 as the 25th Mercury Atlas mission. It is speculated that the later MODMs would have been flown by NASA Group 2 (the New Nine) astronauts selected in September 1962, followed by NASA Group 3 astronauts selected in October 1963. The program insignia shown above is post factum. References:
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E E Aldrin 
W A Anders 
C A Bassett 
A L Bean 
E A Cernan 
R B Chaffee 
M Collins 
R W Cunningham 
D F Eisele 
T C Freeman 
R F Gordon 
R L Schweickart 
D R Scott 
C C Williams |
