Editing Project Mercury (section)

===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>