Project Mercury
Also known as: Mercury program
- 1Project Mercury was the inaugural human spaceflight program of the United States, active from 1958 to 1963.
- 2The program's primary objective was to place a human into Earth orbit and ensure a safe return.
- 3It was administered by the civilian agency NASA after being transferred from the U.S. Air Force.
- 4The project included 20 uncrewed developmental flights and six successful crewed missions.
- 5The seven original astronauts were collectively known as the Mercury Seven.
- 6Each spacecraft used in the program was named by its pilot with a suffix of the number 7.
- 7The total financial expenditure for the program reached $2.83 billion.
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963.
Connections1
Foundational human spaceflight program preceding Apollo
As the first U.S. human spaceflight program, it established the basic operational procedures, astronaut training, and tracking networks that the Apollo program later scaled.
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted 20 uncrewed developmental flights, and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.83 billion. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.
Alan B. ShepardWikimedia Commons; NASA; http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/258319main_s63-02082_full.jpg; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons: Project MercuryPortrait of Donald K. SlaytonWikimedia Commons; NASA; http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/caption_direct.jsp?photoId=G60-02743; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons: Project MercuryLaunch of Freedom 7, the first American manned suborbital space flight. Astronaut Alan Shepard aboard, the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) rocket is launched from Pad 5.Wikimedia Commons; NASA; Great Images in NASA Description; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons; Wikidata P18 (image) 106 words