United States Navy
Upon completion of pilot training Lovell served at sea flying F2H Banshee night fighters. In January 1958, he entered a six-month test pilot training course at the Naval Air Test Center (now the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (also known as Pax River), along with Charles (Peter) Conrad and Wally Schirra. Lovell graduated first in his class.
Later that year, Lovell, Conrad and Schirra became three of 110 military test pilots selected as potential astronaut candidates for Project Mercury. Schirra went on to become one of the Mercury Seven, but Lovell and Conrad failed to make the cut for medical reasons: Lovell because of a temporarily high bilirubin count in his blood; and Conrad for refusing to take the second round of invasive medical tests. Lovell continued for four years at Pax River, using the call sign "Shaky", a nickname given him by Conrad.
Read more about this topic: Jim Lovell
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