Donald K. Slayton's Birth Card: The 9 of Spades

In the record

Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was an American Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. The birth-card coordinate for March 1 is the 9 of Spades — a calendar position, not a forecast of a flight assignment.

The 9 of Spades coordinate

Donald K. Slayton's birthday maps to the 9 of Spades (The Idealistic Mind). Card Blueprints treats that as a 365-day coordinate: solar value = 55 − (2 × month + day), and the year is unused. It is not a prediction about a mission and not a verdict on Donald K. Slayton. The card's own language, quoted as system copy rather than biography: You complete the hard stretch and put the lesson down.

Live 9 of Spades meaning page

Donald K. Slayton in the public record

He went on to become NASA's first chief of the Astronaut Office and director of Flight Crew Operations, responsible for NASA crew assignments. Slayton joined the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and flew in the Europe and the Pacific theaters. He left the Army after World War II, went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1949, and later joined the Minnesota Air National Guard after working for Boeing as an aeronautical engineer. He joined the United States Air Force, and attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in 1955. In 1959, he applied to, and was selected as one of the Mercury Seven, NASA's first class of astronauts. Slayton was scheduled to pilot the second U.S. crewed orbital spaceflight, but was grounded in 1962 by atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm.

Summarised from the lead section of the Wikipedia article Deke Slayton (CC BY-SA 4.0). No biographical facts were written for this page beyond that article.

Where the record meets the 9 of Spades

A card is a calendar coordinate, not a cause. What follows sets one line of the card's own published language beside one sentence of the sourced record, paired by a documented rule. It is a resemblance offered for the reader to weigh — not a claim about Donald K. Slayton, and not a forecast of a spaceflight.

Visionary thinking and universal perspective

He left the Army after World War II, went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1949, and later joined the Minnesota Air National Guard after working for Boeing as an aeronautical engineer.

Paired on work, health and mastery — the domain ♠ governs in this system. Markers in the record: army, engineer, engineering.

Also on the record

1. In March 1972, he was medically cleared to fly and was the docking module pilot of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP).
2. Slayton continued to work at NASA until 1982.
3. He also helped develop the Space Shuttle.
4. Slayton died from brain cancer on June 13, 1993, aged 69.

Other astronauts with this card

• Edward G. Givens Jr. — NASA Group 5 · Deceased · selected, no flights in the Fact Book table
• Joe F. Edwards Jr. — NASA Group 15 · Former · 1 flight

FAQ

What is Donald K. Slayton's birth card?

The 9 of Spades. March 1 maps to that card through the public Card Blueprints formula. The year of birth is not used.

Does a birth card predict a spaceflight?

No. These pages are coordinates, not fortune-telling. A birth card names a calendar day in a 52-card year. It does not forecast missions, character, or fate.

Where do Donald K. Slayton's dates come from?

Birth date 1924-03-01 is the day-precision date on Donald K. Slayton's NASA astronaut biography (NASA Group 1 · Deceased · 1 flight), verified against Wikidata P569 (CC0, day precision, Gregorian preferred). The two sources match. Year-only NASA dates and NASA↔Wikidata conflicts are dropped, not guessed. Page hooks and evidence come from the Wikipedia REST summary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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