Editing Project Mercury (section)

{{Short description|Initial American crewed spaceflight program (1958–1963)}}
{{About|the NASA crewed spaceflight program|other uses|Mercury project (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox space program
| name            = Project Mercury
| image           = [[File:Project Mercury logo.svg|frameless|100px|upright]]
| alt             = The astronomical symbol for planet Mercury, with the Arabic numeral 7 overlaid
| caption         = The [[astronomical symbol]] for planet Mercury, with the Arabic numeral 7 overlaid
| country         = United States
| organization    = [[NASA]]
| purpose         = Crewed orbital flight
| status          = Completed
| cost            = {{Unbulleted list|$277&nbsp;million (1965)<ref name="lafleur20100308" />|${{Format_price|{{Inflation|US|277,000,000|1965|r=2}}}} (adjusted for [[inflation]])}}
| duration        = 1958–1963
| firstflight     = {{Unbulleted list|[[Big Joe 1]]|{{Start date|1959|09|09}}}}
| firstcrewed     = {{Unbulleted list|[[Mercury-Redstone 3]]|{{Start date|1961|05|05}}}}
| lastflight      = {{Unbulleted list|[[Mercury-Atlas 9]]|{{Start date|1963|05|15}}}}
| successes       = 11
| failures        = 3 ([[Mercury-Atlas 1|MA-1]], [[Mercury-Atlas 3|MA-3]], and [[Mercury-Redstone 1|MR-1]])
| partialfailures = 1 (Big Joe 1)
| launchsite      = {{Unbulleted list|[[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]|[[Wallops Flight Facility|Wallops]]}}
| crewvehicle     = [[#Spacecraft|Mercury capsule]]
| launcher        = {{Hlist|[[Atlas LV-3B]]|[[Big Joe 1|Big Joe]]|[[RM-90 Blue Scout II|Blue Scout II]]|[[Little Joe (rocket)|Little Joe]]|[[Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle|Mercury-Redstone]]}}
}}
{{United States space program sidebar}}

'''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 [[orbital spaceflight|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 (some using animals), and six successful flights by [[astronauts]]. The program, which took its name from [[Mercury (mythology)|Roman mythology]], cost ${{Format_price|{{Inflation|US|277,000,000|1965|r=2}}}} (adjusted for [[inflation]]).<ref name="lafleur20100308"/>{{refn|The project was delayed by 22 months, counting from the beginning until the first orbital mission.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=508}} It had a dozen prime contractors, 75 major subcontractors, and about 7200 third-tier subcontractors.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=508}} The cost estimate made by NASA in 1969 was $392.6&nbsp;million, broken down as follows: Spacecraft: $135.3 million, launch vehicles: $82.9 million, operations: $49.3 million, tracking operations and equipment: $71.9 million and facilities: $53.2 million.{{sfn|Wilford|1969|p=67}}{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=643}}|group=n}} The astronauts were collectively known as the "[[Mercury Seven]]", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.

The Space Race began with the 1957 launch of the Soviet [[satellite]] [[Sputnik 1]]. This came as a shock to the American public, and led to the creation of NASA to expedite existing US space exploration efforts, and place most of them under civilian control. After the successful launch of the [[Explorer 1]] satellite in 1958, crewed spaceflight became the next goal. The Soviet Union put the first human, [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]], into a single orbit aboard [[Vostok 1]] on April 12, 1961. Shortly after this, on May 5, the US launched its first astronaut, [[Alan Shepard]], on a [[suborbital]] flight. Soviet [[Gherman Titov]] followed with a day-long orbital flight in August 1961. The US reached its orbital goal on February 20, 1962, when [[John Glenn]] made three orbits around the Earth. When Mercury ended in May 1963, both nations had sent six people into space, but the Soviets led the US in total time spent in space.

The Mercury [[space capsule]] was produced by [[McDonnell Aircraft]], and carried supplies of water, food and oxygen for about one day in a [[Cabin pressurization|pressurized cabin]]. Mercury flights were launched from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] in Florida, on [[launch vehicle]]s modified from the [[Redstone MRLV|Redstone]] and [[Atlas LV-3B|Atlas D]] missiles. The capsule was fitted with a [[launch escape system|launch escape rocket]] to carry it safely away from the launch vehicle in case of a failure. The flight was designed to be controlled from the ground via the [[Manned Space Flight Network]], a system of tracking and communications stations; back-up controls were outfitted on board. Small [[retrorocket]]s were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit, after which an [[ablative heat shield]] protected it from the heat of [[atmospheric entry|atmospheric reentry]]. Finally, a [[parachute]] slowed the craft for a [[Splashdown|water landing]]. Both astronaut and capsule were recovered by helicopters deployed from a US Navy ship.

The Mercury project gained popularity, and its missions were followed by millions on radio and TV around the world. Its success laid the groundwork for [[Project Gemini]], which carried two astronauts in each capsule and perfected space docking maneuvers essential for crewed [[Moon landing|lunar landings]] in the subsequent [[Apollo program]] announced a few weeks after the first crewed Mercury flight.