The astronauts who first made it into space were given celebrity status, and anything they were associated with quickly became popular with the general public. Here's how the Corvette benefitted ...

Rathmann found he had no trouble selling a Corvette formerly owned by an astronaut. Four of the Mercury Seven took Rathmann up on the offer: Al Shepard, of course; Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper ...

Tom Wolfe's 1979 novel, "The Right Stuff" (turned into a hit movie a few years later), told the story of the Mercury Seven, America’s first class of NASA astronauts, and included tales of these ...

Rathmann, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, is known for convincing GM officials to let him lease Corvettes to astronauts for $1. If that weren't incentive enough, they could trade them in year ...