John's right! Now, whether we like it or not, we're public figures. Whether we deserve it...

[an argument rages, primarily between Shepard, Glenn, Carpenter and Cooper] Scott Carpenter: John's right! Now, whether we like it or not, we're public figures. Whether we deserve it or not, people are going to look up to us. We have got a tremendous responsibility here. Alan Shepard: You cannot tell a pilot what he's doing when he's not flying! [Argument continues] Gus Grissom: Wait a minute, wait a minute! [turns Glenn toward him] Gus Grissom: You've got it all wrong, the issue here ain't pussy. The issue here is monkey. John Glenn: What? Gus Grissom: Us. We are the monkey. Deke Slayton: What Gus is saying is that we're missing the point. What Gus is saying is that we all heard the rumors that they want to send a monkey up first. Well, none of us wants to think that they're gonna send a monkey up to do a man's work. But what Gus is saying is that what they're trying to do to us is send a man up to do a monkey's work. Us, a bunch of college-trained chimpanzees! Gus Grissom: Fuckin' A, bubba. Deke Slayton: Alright, so what Gus is saying is that we've got to change things around here. He's saying that we are pilots. And we know more about what we need to fly this thing than anybody else. So what we have to do is to alter the experiment. And what that comes down to is who is gonna control this thing from here on out. Gordon Cooper: What Gus is saying here is that we've got to stick together on this deal.

John's right. We're public figures. Whether we deserve it or not, people look up to us. We have a tremendous responsibility. You can't tell a pilot what to do when not flying. Wait a minute. You got it all wrong. The issue here ain't pussy. The issue here is monkey. - What? - Us. We are the monkey. Gus is saying that we're missing the point. Gus is saying... ...we heard they want to send a monkey up first. They're sending a monkey up to do a man's work. Gus is saying... ...they're trying to send a man up to do a monkey's work. Us. A bunch of college-trained chimpanzees. Gus is saying... ...we've got to change things. He's saying that we are pilots. We know more about what we need to fly than anybody else. What we have to do is alter the experiment. It comes down to who is going to control this thing from here on. Gus is saying we've got to stick together. These tests were designed... ...to decondition, to desensitize... ...to adapt out fears. Since we have developed a fully automated vehicle... ...all we seek from the occupants... ...of the capsule is data. The so-called... ...astronaut would merely be a redundant component. The chimps are capable of many of the same tasks as men. And they are much more cooperative. They are being put through every phase of the astronaut training. For us, the question still remains: Which one will be first? The man or... ...the monkey? We shall see.