Editing Project Mercury (section)

==Creation==
Project Mercury was officially approved on October 7, 1958, and publicly announced on December 17.{{sfn|Grimwood|1963|p=12}}{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=132}} Originally called Project Astronaut, President [[Dwight Eisenhower]] felt that gave too much attention to the pilot.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=92}} Instead, the name ''[[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]'' was chosen from [[classical mythology]], which had already lent names to rockets like the Greek ''[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]'' and Roman ''[[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]'' for the [[SM-65 Atlas|SM-65]] and [[PGM-19 Jupiter|PGM-19]] [[missiles]].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=132}} It absorbed military projects with the same aim, such as the Air Force [[Man in Space Soonest]].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=102}}{{refn|Man in Space Soonest was the first part of a four-phase Moon landing program estimated to finish in 1965, cost a total of $1.5&nbsp;billion (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|1500000000|1959|r=1}}}} adjusted for inflation), and be launched by a "Super Titan" rocket.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=91}}|group=n}}

=== Background ===
Following the end of [[World War II]], a [[nuclear arms race]] evolved between the US and the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR). Since the USSR did not have bases in the western hemisphere from which to deploy [[bomber|bomber planes]], [[Joseph Stalin]] decided to develop [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s, which drove a missile race.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|pp=12–14}} The rocket technology in turn enabled both sides to develop Earth-orbiting satellites for communications, and gathering weather data and [[geospatial intelligence|intelligence]].{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=81}} Americans were shocked when the Soviet Union placed the first satellite into orbit in October 1957, leading to a growing fear that the US was falling into a "[[missile gap]]".{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=28, 52}}{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=81}} A month later, the Soviets launched [[Sputnik 2]], carrying [[Laika|a dog]] into orbit. Though the animal was not recovered alive, it was obvious their goal was human spaceflight.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=55}} Unable to disclose details of military space projects, President Eisenhower ordered the creation of a civilian space agency in charge of civilian and scientific space exploration. Based on the federal research agency [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]] (NACA), it was named the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=113}} The agency achieved its first goal of launching a satellite into space, the [[Pioneer 1]], in 1958. The next goal was to put a man there.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|pp=57, 82}}

The limit of space (also known as the [[Kármán line]]) was defined at the time as a minimum altitude of {{convert|62|mi|abbr=on}}, and the only way to reach it was by using rocket-powered boosters.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=70}}{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=13}} This created risks for the pilot, including explosion, high [[g-force]]s and vibrations during lift off through a dense atmosphere,{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=44}} and temperatures of more than {{convert|10000|°F|abbr=on|sigfig=2}} from air compression during reentry.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=59}}

In space, pilots would require pressurized chambers or [[space suit]]s to supply fresh air.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=466}} While there, they would experience [[weightlessness]], which could potentially cause disorientation.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=357}} Further potential risks included [[space radiation|radiation]] and [[micrometeoroid]] strikes, both of which would normally be absorbed in the atmosphere.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=35, 39–40}} All seemed possible to overcome: experience from satellites suggested micrometeoroid risk was negligible,{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=49}} and experiments in the early 1950s with simulated weightlessness, high g-forces on humans, and sending animals to the limit of space, all suggested potential problems could be overcome by known technologies.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=37–38}} Finally, reentry was studied using the nuclear warheads of ballistic missiles,{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=61}} which demonstrated a blunt, forward-facing heat shield could solve the problem of heating.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=61}}

===Organization===
[[T. Keith Glennan]] had been appointed the first Administrator of NASA, with [[Hugh L. Dryden]] (last Director of NACA) as his Deputy, at the creation of the agency on October 1, 1958.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=98–99}} Glennan would report to the president through the [[National Space Council|National Aeronautics and Space Council]].{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=82}} The group responsible for Project Mercury was NASA's [[Space Task Group]], and the goals of the program were to orbit a crewed spacecraft around Earth, investigate the pilot's ability to function in space, and to recover both pilot and spacecraft safely.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=xiii, 134}} Existing technology and off-the-shelf equipment would be used wherever practical, the simplest and most reliable approach to system design would be followed, and an existing launch vehicle would be employed, together with a progressive test program.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=134}} Spacecraft requirements included: a [[launch escape system]] to separate the spacecraft and its occupant from the [[launch vehicle]] in case of impending failure; [[Spacecraft attitude control|attitude control]] for orientation of the spacecraft in orbit; a [[retrorocket]] system to bring the spacecraft out of orbit; drag braking [[Blunt Body theory|blunt body]] for [[atmospheric entry|atmospheric reentry]]; and landing on water.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=134}} To communicate with the spacecraft during an orbital mission, an extensive communications network had to be built.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=143}} In keeping with his desire to keep from giving the US space program an overtly military flavor, President Eisenhower at first hesitated to give the project top national priority (DX rating under the [[Defense Production Act]]), which meant that Mercury had to wait in line behind military projects for materials; however, this rating was granted in May 1959, a little more than a year and a half after Sputnik was launched.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=157}}

===Contractors and facilities===

Twelve companies bid to build the Mercury spacecraft on a $20&nbsp;million (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|20000000|1959|r=-2}}}} adjusted for inflation) contract.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=121, 191}} In January 1959, [[McDonnell Aircraft|McDonnell Aircraft Corporation]] was chosen to be prime contractor for the spacecraft.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=137}} Two weeks earlier, [[North American Aviation]], based in Los Angeles, was awarded a contract for [[Little Joe (rocket)|Little Joe]], a small rocket to be used for development of the launch escape system.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=124}}{{refn|group=n|The name ''Little Joe'' was adopted by its designers from the throw of a double deuce in a [[craps]] game since this resembled the four-rocket arrangement in the blueprints for the vehicle.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=124}}}} The World Wide Tracking Network for communication between the ground and spacecraft during a flight was awarded to the [[Western Electric|Western Electric Company]].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=216}} Redstone rockets for suborbital launches were manufactured in [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]], Alabama, by the [[Chrysler Corporation]]{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=21}} and Atlas rockets by [[Convair]] in San Diego, California.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=158}} For crewed launches, the [[Atlantic Missile Range]] at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] in Florida was made available by the USAF.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=89–90}} This was also the site of the Mercury Control Center while the computing center of the communication network was in [[Goddard Space Center]], Maryland.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=86}} Little Joe rockets were launched from [[Wallops Island]], Virginia.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=141}} Astronaut training took place at [[Langley Research Center]] in Virginia, [[Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory]] in Cleveland, Ohio, and [[Naval Air Development Center|Naval Air Development Center Johnsville]] in Warminster, PA.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|pp=103–110}} Langley wind tunnels{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=88}} together with a rocket sled track at [[Holloman Air Force Base]] at Alamogordo, New Mexico were used for aerodynamic studies.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=248}} Both Navy and Air Force aircraft were made available for the development of the spacecraft's landing system,{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|pp=172–173}} and Navy ships and Navy and Marine Corps helicopters were made available for recovery.{{refn|NASA's planning for recovery operations in the summer of 1960 was, according to the Navy, asking for the deployment of the whole Atlantic Fleet and might have cost more than the entire Mercury program.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=265}}|group=n}} South of Cape Canaveral the town of [[Cocoa Beach]] boomed.<ref name="CocoaBeach" /> From here, 75,000 people watched the first American orbital flight being launched in 1962.<ref name="CocoaBeach" />

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Wallops Island - GPN-2000-001888.jpg|[[Wallops Island]] test facility, 1961
File:Mercury control center 4june1963.jpg|[[Mercury Control Center]], Cape Canaveral, 1963
File:Project-Mercury-facility-map.png|Location of production and operational facilities of Project Mercury
</gallery>