Incubator escapee wiki

Project Mercury

Article Discussion
Revision as of 08:20, 25 May 2025 by imported>OAbot (Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.)
(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox space program Template: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 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 Roman mythology, cost $Template:Format price (adjusted for inflation).<ref name="lafleur20100308"/>Template:Refn 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 pressurized cabin. Mercury flights were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, on launch vehicles modified from the Redstone and Atlas D missiles. The capsule was fitted with a 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 retrorockets were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit, after which an ablative heat shield protected it from the heat of atmospheric reentry. Finally, a parachute slowed the craft for a 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 lunar landings in the subsequent Apollo program announced a few weeks after the first crewed Mercury flight.

CreationEdit

Project Mercury was officially approved on October 7, 1958, and publicly announced on December 17.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Originally called Project Astronaut, President Dwight Eisenhower felt that gave too much attention to the pilot.Template:Sfn Instead, the name Mercury was chosen from classical mythology, which had already lent names to rockets like the Greek Atlas and Roman Jupiter for the SM-65 and PGM-19 missiles.Template:Sfn It absorbed military projects with the same aim, such as the Air Force Man in Space Soonest.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

BackgroundEdit

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 planes, Joseph Stalin decided to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles, which drove a missile race.Template:Sfn The rocket technology in turn enabled both sides to develop Earth-orbiting satellites for communications, and gathering weather data and intelligence.Template:Sfn 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".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A month later, the Soviets launched Sputnik 2, carrying a dog into orbit. Though the animal was not recovered alive, it was obvious their goal was human spaceflight.Template:Sfn 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).Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

The limit of space (also known as the Kármán line) was defined at the time as a minimum altitude of Template:Convert, and the only way to reach it was by using rocket-powered boosters.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This created risks for the pilot, including explosion, high g-forces and vibrations during lift off through a dense atmosphere,Template:Sfn and temperatures of more than Template:Convert from air compression during reentry.Template:Sfn

In space, pilots would require pressurized chambers or space suits to supply fresh air.Template:Sfn While there, they would experience weightlessness, which could potentially cause disorientation.Template:Sfn Further potential risks included radiation and micrometeoroid strikes, both of which would normally be absorbed in the atmosphere.Template:Sfn All seemed possible to overcome: experience from satellites suggested micrometeoroid risk was negligible,Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Finally, reentry was studied using the nuclear warheads of ballistic missiles,Template:Sfn which demonstrated a blunt, forward-facing heat shield could solve the problem of heating.Template:Sfn

OrganizationEdit

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.Template:Sfn Glennan would report to the president through the National Aeronautics and Space Council.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Spacecraft requirements included: a launch escape system to separate the spacecraft and its occupant from the launch vehicle in case of impending failure; attitude control for orientation of the spacecraft in orbit; a retrorocket system to bring the spacecraft out of orbit; drag braking blunt body for atmospheric reentry; and landing on water.Template:Sfn To communicate with the spacecraft during an orbital mission, an extensive communications network had to be built.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

Contractors and facilitiesEdit

Twelve companies bid to build the Mercury spacecraft on a $20 million ($Template:Formatprice adjusted for inflation) contract.Template:Sfn In January 1959, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was chosen to be prime contractor for the spacecraft.Template:Sfn Two weeks earlier, North American Aviation, based in Los Angeles, was awarded a contract for Little Joe, a small rocket to be used for development of the launch escape system.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The World Wide Tracking Network for communication between the ground and spacecraft during a flight was awarded to the Western Electric Company.Template:Sfn Redstone rockets for suborbital launches were manufactured in Huntsville, Alabama, by the Chrysler CorporationTemplate:Sfn and Atlas rockets by Convair in San Diego, California.Template:Sfn For crewed launches, the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida was made available by the USAF.Template:Sfn This was also the site of the Mercury Control Center while the computing center of the communication network was in Goddard Space Center, Maryland.Template:Sfn Little Joe rockets were launched from Wallops Island, Virginia.Template:Sfn Astronaut training took place at Langley Research Center in Virginia, Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, and Naval Air Development Center Johnsville in Warminster, PA.Template:Sfn Langley wind tunnelsTemplate:Sfn together with a rocket sled track at Holloman Air Force Base at Alamogordo, New Mexico were used for aerodynamic studies.Template:Sfn Both Navy and Air Force aircraft were made available for the development of the spacecraft's landing system,Template:Sfn and Navy ships and Navy and Marine Corps helicopters were made available for recovery.Template:Refn 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" />

  • Wallops Island - GPN-2000-001888.jpg

    Wallops Island test facility, 1961

  • Mercury control center 4june1963.jpg

    Mercury Control Center, Cape Canaveral, 1963

  • Project-Mercury-facility-map.png

    Location of production and operational facilities of Project Mercury

SpacecraftEdit

The Mercury spacecraft's principal designer was Maxime Faget, who started research for human spaceflight during the time of the NACA.Template:Sfn It was Template:Convert long and Template:Convert wide; with the launch escape system added, the overall length was Template:Convert.Template:Sfn With Template:Convert of habitable volume, the capsule was just large enough for a single crew member.Template:Sfn Inside were 120 controls: 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses and 35 mechanical levers.Template:Sfn The heaviest spacecraft, Mercury-Atlas 9, weighed Template:Convert fully loaded.Template:Sfn Its outer skin was made of René 41, a nickel alloy able to withstand high temperatures.Template:Sfn

The spacecraft was cone shaped, with a neck at the narrow end.Template:Sfn It had a convex base, which carried a heat shield (Item 2 in the diagram below)Template:Sfn consisting of an aluminum honeycomb covered with multiple layers of fiberglass.Template:Sfn Strapped to it was a retropack (1)Template:Sfn consisting of three rockets deployed to brake the spacecraft during reentry.Template:Sfn Between these were three posigrade rockets: minor rockets for separating the spacecraft from the launch vehicle at orbital insertion.Template:Sfn The straps that held the package could be severed when it was no longer needed.Template:Sfn Next to the heat shield was the pressurized crew compartment (3).Template:Sfn Inside, an astronaut would be strapped to a form-fitting seat with instruments in front of him and with his back to the heat shield.Template:Sfn Underneath the seat was the environmental control system supplying oxygen and heat,Template:Sfn scrubbing the air of CO2, vapor and odors, and (on orbital flights) collecting urine.Template:Sfn The recovery compartment (4)Template:Sfn at the narrow end of the spacecraft contained three parachutes: a drogue to stabilize free fall and two main chutes, a primary and reserve.Template:Sfn Between the heat shield and inner wall of the crew compartment was a landing skirt, deployed by letting down the heat shield before landing.Template:Sfn On top of the recovery compartment was the antenna section (5)Template:Sfn containing both antennas for communication and scanners for guiding spacecraft orientation.Template:Sfn Attached was a flap used to ensure the spacecraft was faced heat shield first during reentry.Template:Sfn A launch escape system (6) was mounted to the narrow end of the spacecraftTemplate:Sfn containing three small solid-fueled rockets which could be fired briefly in a launch failure to separate the capsule safely from its booster. It would deploy the capsule's parachute for a landing nearby at sea.Template:Sfn (See also Mission profile for details.)

The Mercury spacecraft did not have an on-board computer, instead relying on all computation for reentry to be calculated by computers on the ground, with their results (retrofire times and firing attitude) then transmitted to the spacecraft by radio while in flight.<ref name="NASAComp1" /><ref name="DanCompSpace" /> All computer systems used in the Mercury space program were housed in NASA facilities on Earth.<ref name="NASAComp1" /> (See Ground control for details.)

  • Mercury-spacecraft-color.png

    1. Retropack. 2. Heatshield. 3. Crew compartment. 4. Recovery compartment. 5. Antenna section. 6. Launch escape system.

  • McDonnellMercuryCapsule1.jpg

    Retropack: Retrorockets with red posigrade rockets

  • Landing-skirt.jpg

    Landing skirt (or bag) deployment: skirt is inflated; on impact the air is pressed out (like an airbag)

Pilot accommodationsEdit

File:GPN-2000-001027.jpg
John Glenn wearing his Mercury space suit

The astronaut lay in a sitting position with his back to the heat shield, which was found to be the position that best enabled a human to withstand the high g-forces of launch and reentry. A fiberglass seat was custom-molded from each astronaut's space-suited body for maximum support. Near his left hand was a manual abort handle to activate the launch escape system if necessary prior to or during liftoff, in case the automatic trigger failed.Template:Sfn

To supplement the onboard environmental control system, he wore a pressure suit with its own oxygen supply, which would also cool him.Template:Sfn A cabin atmosphere of pure oxygen at a low pressure of Template:Cvt (equivalent to an altitude of Template:Convert) was chosen, rather than one with the same composition as air (nitrogen/oxygen) at sea level.Template:Sfn This was easier to control,Template:Sfn avoided the risk of decompression sickness ("the bends"),Template:SfnTemplate:Refn and also saved on spacecraft weight. Fires (which never occurred during the course of Project Mercury) would have to be extinguished by emptying the cabin of oxygen.Template:Sfn In such case, or failure of the cabin pressure for any reason, the astronaut could make an emergency return to Earth, relying on his suit for survival.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The astronauts normally flew with their visor up, which meant that the suit was not inflated.Template:Sfn With the visor down and the suit inflated, the astronaut could only reach the side and bottom panels, where vital buttons and handles were placed.Template:Sfn

The astronaut also wore electrodes on his chest to record his heart rhythm, a cuff that could take his blood pressure, and a rectal thermometer to record his temperature (this was replaced by an oral thermometer on the last flight).Template:Sfn Data from these was sent to the ground during the flight.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The astronaut normally drank water and ate food pellets.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

Despite the lessons learnt from the U2 program, which also utilized a pressure suit, initially no urine collection device was included for the Mercury astronauts. An inquiry on the subject was made in February 1961 by a student, but NASA responded by stating that "the first space man is not expected to have 'to go".Template:Sfn The expected short flight times meant that this was overlooked, although after Alan Shepard had a launch delay of four hours, he was forced to urinate in his suit, short-circuiting some of the electrodes monitoring his vital signs. Gus Grissom wore two rubber pants on the second Mercury flight as a crude workaround. It would take until the third flight in February 1962 before a dedicated urine collection device was installed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Once in orbit, the spacecraft could be rotated in yaw, pitch, and roll: along its longitudinal axis (roll), left to right from the astronaut's point of view (yaw), and up or down (pitch).Template:Sfn Movement was created by rocket-propelled thrusters which used hydrogen peroxide as a fuel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For orientation, the pilot could look through the window in front of him or he could look at a screen connected to a periscope with a camera which could be turned 360°.Template:Sfn

The Mercury astronauts had taken part in the development of their spacecraft, and insisted that manual control, and a window, be elements of its design.Template:Sfn As a result, spacecraft movement and other functions could be controlled three ways: remotely from the ground when passing over a ground station, automatically guided by onboard instruments, or manually by the astronaut, who could replace or override the two other methods. Experience validated the astronauts' insistence on manual controls. Without them, Gordon Cooper's manual reentry during the last flight would not have been possible.Template:Sfn

Template:Hidden begin

Spacecraft cutaway
  • Mercury Spacecraft.png

    Interior of spacecraft

  • Mercury-spacecraft-control.png

    The three axes of rotation for the spacecraft: yaw, pitch and roll

  • Mercury-spacecraft-temperature-profile.png

    Temperature profile for spacecraft in Fahrenheit

Control panels and handle
  • Control panels mercury atlas 6.png

    The control panels of Friendship 7.Template:Sfn The panels changed between flights, among others the periscope screen that dominates the center of these panels was dropped for the final flight together with the periscope itself.

  • Three-axis hand controller mercury project.jpg

    3-axis handle for attitude control

Template:Hidden end

Development and productionEdit

File:Technicians working in the McDonnell White Room on the Mercury-crop.jpg
Spacecraft production in clean room at McDonnell Aircraft, St. Louis, 1960

The Mercury spacecraft design was modified three times by NASA between 1958 and 1959.Template:Sfn After bidding by potential contractors had been completed, NASA selected the design submitted as "C" in November 1958.Template:Sfn After it failed a test flight in July 1959, a final configuration, "D", emerged.Template:Sfn The heat shield shape had been developed earlier in the 1950s through experiments with ballistic missiles, which had shown a blunt profile would create a shock wave that would lead most of the heat around the spacecraft.Template:Sfn To further protect against heat, either a heat sink, or an ablative material, could be added to the shield.Template:Sfn The heat sink would remove heat by the flow of the air inside the shock wave, whereas the ablative heat shield would remove heat by a controlled evaporation of the ablative material.Template:Sfn After uncrewed tests, the latter was chosen for crewed flights.Template:Sfn Apart from the capsule design, a rocket plane similar to the existing X-15 was considered.Template:Sfn This approach was still too far from being able to make a spaceflight, and was consequently dropped.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The heat shield and the stability of the spacecraft were tested in wind tunnels,Template:Sfn and later in flight.Template:Sfn The launch escape system was developed through uncrewed flights.Template:Sfn During a period of problems with development of the landing parachutes, alternative landing systems such as the Rogallo glider wing were considered, but ultimately scrapped.Template:Sfn

The spacecraft were produced at McDonnell Aircraft, St. Louis, Missouri, in clean rooms and tested in vacuum chambers at the McDonnell plant.Template:Sfn The spacecraft had close to 600 subcontractors, such as Garrett AiResearch which built the spacecraft's environmental control system.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Final quality control and preparations of the spacecraft were made at Hangar S at Cape Canaveral.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn NASA ordered 20 production spacecraft, numbered 1 through 20.Template:Sfn Five of the 20, Nos. 10, 12, 15, 17, and 19, were not flown.Template:Sfn Spacecraft No. 3 and No. 4 were destroyed during uncrewed test flights.Template:Sfn Spacecraft No. 11 sank and was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after 38 years.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some spacecraft were modified after initial production (refurbished after launch abort, modified for longer missions, etc.).Template:Refn A number of Mercury boilerplate spacecraft (made from non-flight materials or lacking production spacecraft systems) were also made by NASA and McDonnell.Template:Sfn They were designed and used to test spacecraft recovery systems and the escape tower.Template:Sfn McDonnell also built the spacecraft simulators used by the astronauts during training,Template:Sfn and adopted the motto "First Free Man in Space".<ref name="logo_history">Template:Citation</ref>

  • Heatshield-test3.jpg

    Shadowgraph of the reentry shock wave simulated in a wind tunnel, 1957

  • Mercury-design.png

    Evolution of capsule design, 1958–59

  • Mercury Space Capsule-wind-tunnel.jpg

    Experiment with boilerplate spacecraft, 1959

Template:Hidden begin

  • Mercury-project-earth-landing-system-test.png

    Drop of boilerplate spacecraft in training of landing and recovery. 56 such qualification tests were made together with tests of individual steps of the system.Template:Sfn

Template:Hidden end

Launch vehiclesEdit

File:Mercury-launch-vehicles.png
Launch vehicles: 1. Mercury-Atlas (orbital flights). 2. Mercury-Redstone (suborbital flights). 3. Little Joe (uncrewed tests)

Launch escape system testingEdit

A Template:Convert launch vehicle called Little Joe was used for uncrewed tests of the launch escape system, using a Mercury capsule with an escape tower mounted on it.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Its main purpose was to test the system at max q, when aerodynamic forces against the spacecraft peaked, making separation of the launch vehicle and spacecraft most difficult.Template:Sfn It was also the point at which the astronaut was subjected to the heaviest vibrations.Template:Sfn The Little Joe rocket used solid-fuel propellant and was originally designed in 1958 by NACA for suborbital crewed flights, but was redesigned for Project Mercury to simulate an Atlas-D launch.Template:Sfn It was produced by North American Aviation.Template:Sfn It was not able to change direction; instead its flight depended on the angle from which it was launched.Template:Sfn Its maximum altitude was Template:Convert fully loaded.Template:Sfn A Scout launch vehicle was used for a single flight intended to evaluate the tracking network; however, it failed and was destroyed from the ground shortly after launch.Template:Sfn

Suborbital flightEdit

Template:Multiple image The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle was an Template:Convert (with capsule and escape system) single-stage launch vehicle used for suborbital (ballistic) flights.Template:Sfn It had a liquid-fueled engine that burned alcohol and liquid oxygen producing about Template:Convert of thrust, which was not enough for orbital missions.Template:Sfn It was a descendant of the German V-2,Template:Sfn and developed for the U.S. Army during the early 1950s. It was modified for Project Mercury by removing the warhead and adding a collar for supporting the spacecraft together with material for damping vibrations during launch.Template:Sfn Its rocket motor was produced by North American Aviation and its direction could be altered during flight by its fins. They worked in two ways: by directing the air around them, or by directing the thrust by their inner parts (or both at the same time).Template:Sfn Both the Atlas-D and Redstone launch vehicles contained an automatic abort sensing system which allowed them to abort a launch by firing the launch escape system if something went wrong.Template:Sfn The Jupiter rocket, also developed by Wernher von Braun's team at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, was considered as well for intermediate Mercury suborbital flights at a higher speed and altitude than Redstone, but this plan was dropped when it turned out that man-rating Jupiter for the Mercury program would actually cost more than flying an Atlas due to economics of scale.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Jupiter's only use other than as a missile system was for the short-lived Juno II launch vehicle, and keeping a full staff of technical personnel around solely to fly a few Mercury capsules would result in excessively high costs.Template:Citation needed

Orbital flightEdit

Orbital missions required use of the Atlas LV-3B, a man-rated version of the Atlas D which was originally developed as the United States' first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)Template:Sfn by Convair for the Air Force during the mid-1950s.Template:Sfn The Atlas was a "one-and-one-half-stage" rocket fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX).Template:Sfn The rocket by itself stood Template:Convert high; total height of the Atlas-Mercury space vehicle at launch was Template:Convert.Template:Sfn

The Atlas first stage was a booster skirt with two engines burning liquid fuel.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn This, together with the larger sustainer second stage, gave it sufficient power to launch a Mercury spacecraft into orbit.Template:Sfn Both stages fired from lift-off with the thrust from the second stage sustainer engine passing through an opening in the first stage. After separation from the first stage, the sustainer stage continued alone. The sustainer also steered the rocket by thrusters guided by gyroscopes.Template:Sfn Smaller vernier rockets were added on its sides for precise control of maneuvers.Template:Sfn

GalleryEdit

  • Little Joe 5B capsule mating.jpg

    Little Joe assembling at Wallops Island

  • Mercury-Redstone 4 booster erectionWB.jpg

    Erection of Redstone at Launch Complex 5

  • Unloading Atlas Launch Vehicle - GPN-2003-00041.jpg

    Unloading Atlas at Cape Canaveral

  • Launch Complex 14-MA-9.jpg

    Atlas - with spacecraft mounted - on launch pad at Launch Complex 14

AstronautsEdit

File:Project Mercury-Mercury Seven-Astronauts.jpg
Left to right: Grissom, Shepard, Carpenter, Schirra, Slayton, Glenn and Cooper, 1962

NASA announced the following seven astronauts – known as the Mercury Seven – on April 9, 1959:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Name Launch Rank Unit Born Died
M. Scott Carpenter 1962/5/24 Lieutenant USN 1925 2013
L. Gordon Cooper 1963/5/15 Captain USAF 1927 2004
John H. Glenn, Jr. 1962/2/20 Major USMC 1921 2016
Virgil I. Grissom 1961/7/21 Captain USAF 1926 1967
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. 1962/10/3 Lt Commander USN 1923 2007
Alan B. Shepard, Jr. 1961/5/5 Lt Commander USN 1923 1998
Donald K. Slayton Major USAF 1924 1993

Alan Shepard became the first American in space by making a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.Template:Sfn Mercury-Redstone 3, Shepard's 15 minute and 28 second flight of the Freedom 7 capsule demonstrated the ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry. Shepard later went on to fly in the Apollo program and became the only Mercury astronaut to walk on the Moon on Apollo 14.Template:Sfn<ref>Dunbar, B. (2015, May 12). Who was Alan shepherd? Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-alan-shepard-k4.html</ref>

Gus Grissom became the second American in space on Mercury-Redstone 4 on July 21, 1961. After the splashdown of Liberty Bell 7, the side hatch opened and caused the capsule to sink although Grissom was able to be safely recovered. His flight also gave NASA the confidence to move on to orbital flights. Grissom went on to participate in the Gemini and Apollo programs, but died in January 1967 during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1.Template:Sfn<ref>Documents – human Space Flight: A record of ACHIEVEMENT, 1961 – 1998. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/documentation/hsf-record/hsf.htm#mercury</ref>

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on Mercury-Atlas 6 February 20, 1962. During the flight, the spacecraft Friendship 7 experienced issues with its automatic control system but Glenn was able to manually control the spacecraft's attitude. He quit NASA in 1964, when he came to the conclusion that he likely would not be selected for any Apollo missions, and was later elected to the US Senate, serving from 1974 to 1999. During his tenure, he returned to space in 1998 as a Payload Specialist aboard STS-95.Template:Sfn<ref>Dunbar, B. (2016, December 05). Profile of John Glenn. Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/profile-of-john-glenn</ref>

Scott Carpenter was the second astronaut in orbit and flew on Mercury-Atlas 7 on May 24, 1962. The spaceflight was essentially a repeat of Mercury-Atlas 6, but a targeting error during re-entry took Aurora 7 250 miles (400 km) off-course, delaying recovery. Afterwards, he joined the Navy's "Man in the Sea" program and is the only American to be both an astronaut and an aquanaut.<ref>Fox, S. (2015, February 20). Scott carpenter, 1925–2013. Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/astronautprofiles/carpenter Template:Webarchive</ref>Template:Sfn Carpenter's Mercury flight was his only trip into space.

Wally Schirra flew aboard Sigma 7 on Mercury-Atlas 8 on October 3, 1962. The mission's main goal was to show development of environmental controls or life-support systems that would allow for safety in space, thus being a flight mainly focused on technical evaluation, rather than scientific experimentation. The mission lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes, setting a new U.S. flight duration record.<ref>40Th anniversary of Mercury 7: WALTER Marty Schirra, jr. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/schirra.htm</ref> In December 1965, Schirra flew on Gemini 6A, achieving the first ever space rendezvous with sister spacecraft Gemini 7. Three years later, he commanded the first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 7, becoming the first astronaut to fly three times and the only person to fly in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

Gordon Cooper made the last flight of Project Mercury with Mercury-Atlas 9 on May 15, 1963. His flight onboard Faith 7 set another U.S. endurance record with a 34-hour and 19 minute flight duration, and 22 completed orbits. This mission marks the last time an American was launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission. Cooper later went on to participate in Project Gemini where he once again beat the endurance record during Gemini 5.<ref>Administrator, N. (2015, February 27). Remembering Gordon Cooper. Retrieved April 22, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_218.html</ref>Template:Sfn

Deke Slayton was grounded in 1962 due to a heart condition, but remained with NASA and was appointed senior manager of the Astronaut Office and later additionally assistant director of Flight Crew Operations at the beginning of Project Gemini. On March 13, 1972, after doctors confirmed he no longer had a coronary condition, Slayton returned to flight status and the next year was assigned to the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, which successfully flew in 1975 with Slayton as the docking module pilot. After the ASTP, he managed the Space Shuttle Program's Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) and Orbital Flight Tests (OFT) before retiring from NASA in 1982.

One of the astronauts' tasks was publicity; they gave interviews to the press and visited project manufacturing facilities to speak with those who worked on Project Mercury.Template:Sfn The press was especially fond of John Glenn, who was considered the best speaker of the seven.Template:Sfn They sold their personal stories to Life magazine which portrayed them as 'patriotic, God-fearing family men.'Template:Sfn Life was also allowed to be at home with the families while the astronauts were in space.Template:Sfn During the project, Grissom, Carpenter, Cooper, Schirra and Slayton stayed with their families at or near Langley Air Force Base; Glenn lived at the base and visited his family in Washington DC on weekends. Shepard lived with his family at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia.

Other than Grissom, who was killed in the 1967 Apollo 1 fire, the other six survived past retirement and died between 1993 and 2016.Template:Sfn

Template:Hidden begin

  • AstronautAssignmentsChart-Mercury7.PNG

    Mercury 7 astronaut assignments. Schirra had the most flights with three; Glenn, though being the first to leave NASA, had the last with a Space Shuttle mission in 1998.<ref name=Glenn1998/> Shepard was the only one to walk on the Moon.

Template:Hidden end

Selection and trainingEdit

Prior to Project Mercury, there was no protocol for selecting astronauts, so NASA would set a far-reaching precedent with both their selection process and initial choices for astronauts. At the end of 1958, various ideas for the selection pool were discussed privately within the national government and the civilian space program, and also among the public at large. Initially, there was the idea to issue a widespread public call to volunteers. Thrill-seekers such as rock climbers and acrobats would have been allowed to apply, but this idea was quickly shot down by NASA officials who understood that an undertaking such as space flight required individuals with professional training and education in flight engineering. By late 1958, NASA officials decided to move forward with test pilots being the heart of their selection pool.<ref name="NASA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On President Eisenhower's insistence, the group was further narrowed down to active duty military test pilots, which set the number of candidates at 508.Template:Sfn These candidates were USN or USMC naval aviation pilots (NAPs), or USAF pilots of Senior or Command rating. These aviators had long military records, which would give NASA officials more background information on which to base their decisions. Furthermore, these aviators were skilled in flying the most advanced aircraft to date, giving them the best qualifications for the new position of astronaut.<ref name="NASA"/> During this time, women were banned from flying in the military and so could not successfully qualify as test pilots. This meant that no female candidates could earn consideration for the title of astronaut. Civilian NASA X-15 pilot Neil Armstrong was also disqualified, though he had been selected by the US Air Force in 1958 for its Man in Space Soonest program, which was replaced by Mercury.Template:Sfn Although Armstrong had been a combat-experienced NAP during the Korean War, he left active duty in 1952.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Armstrong became NASA's first civilian astronaut in 1962 when he was selected for NASA's second group,Template:Sfn and became the first man on the Moon in 1969.Template:Sfn

It was further stipulated that candidates should be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than Template:Convert, and hold a college degree in a STEM subject.Template:Sfn The college degree requirement excluded the USAF's X-1 pilot, then-Lt Col (later Brig Gen) Chuck Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound.Template:Sfn He later became a critic of the project, ridiculing the civilian space program, labeling astronauts as "spam in a can."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John Glenn did not have a college degree either, but used influential friends to make the selection committee accept him.Template:Sfn USAF Capt. (later Col.) Joseph Kittinger, a USAF fighter pilot and stratosphere balloonist, met all the requirements but preferred to stay in his contemporary project.Template:Sfn Other potential candidates declined because they did not believe that human spaceflight had a future beyond Project Mercury.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn From the original 508, 110 candidates were selected for an interview, and from the interviews, 32 were selected for further physical and mental testing.Template:Sfn Their health, vision, and hearing were examined, together with their tolerance to noise, vibrations, g-forces, personal isolation, and heat.Template:Sfn<ref>Minard, D. (1964). Work Physiology. Archives of Environmental Health. 8(3): 427–436.</ref> In a special chamber, they were tested to see if they could perform their tasks under confusing conditions.Template:Sfn The candidates had to answer more than 500 questions about themselves and describe what they saw in different images.Template:Sfn Navy Lt (later Capt) Jim Lovell, who was later an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs, did not pass the physical tests.Template:Sfn After these tests it was intended to narrow the group down to six astronauts, but in the end it was decided to keep seven.Template:Sfn

The astronauts went through a training program covering some of the same exercises that were used in their selection.Template:Sfn They simulated the g-force profiles of launch and reentry in a centrifuge at the Naval Air Development Center, and were taught special breathing techniques necessary when subjected to more than 6 g.Template:Sfn Weightlessness training took place in aircraft, first on the rear seat of a two-seater fighter and later inside converted and padded cargo aircraft.Template:Sfn They practiced gaining control of a spinning spacecraft in a machine at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory called the Multi-Axis Spin-Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF), by using an attitude controller handle simulating the one in the spacecraft.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref> A further measure for finding the right attitude in orbit was star and Earth recognition training in planetaria and simulators.Template:Sfn Communication and flight procedures were practiced in flight simulators, first together with a single person assisting them and later with the Mission Control Center.Template:Sfn Recovery was practiced in pools at Langley, and later at sea with frogmen and helicopter crews.Template:Sfn

  • Astronaut Walter M. Schirra Prepares to Test Gravitational Stress.jpg

    G-force training, Johnsville, 1960

  • Mercury Astronauts in Weightless Flight on C-131 Aircraft - GPN-2002-000039.jpg

    Weightlessness simulation in a C-131

  • Project Mercury AWT Gimbaling Rig close.jpg

    MASTIF at Lewis Research Center

  • Shepard in trainer before launch.jpg

    Flight trainer at Cape Canaveral

  • B60 285b.jpg

    Egress training at Langley

Mission profileEdit

Suborbital missionsEdit

File:Mr3-flight-timeline-simple-2.png
Profile. See timetable for explanation. Dashed line: region of weightlessness.

A Redstone rocket was used to boost the capsule for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to an altitude of Template:Convert; the capsule continued ascending on a ballistic curve after booster separation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The launch escape system was jettisoned at the same time. At the top of the curve, the spacecraft's retrorockets were fired for testing purposes; they were not necessary for reentry because orbital speed had not been attained. The spacecraft landed in the Atlantic Ocean.Template:Sfn The suborbital mission took about 15 minutes, had an apogee altitude of Template:Convert, and a downrange distance of Template:Convert.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn From the time of booster-spacecraft separation until reentry where air started to slow down the spacecraft, the pilot would experience weightlessness as shown on the image.Template:Refn The recovery procedure would be the same as an orbital mission.[AS]

Orbital missionsEdit

File:Launch-complex-14.png
Launch Complex 14 just before launch (service tower rolled aside). Preparations for launch were made in the blockhouse.

Preparations for a mission started a month in advance with the selection of the primary and back-up astronaut; they would practice together for the mission.Template:Sfn For three days prior to launch, the astronaut went through a special diet to minimize his need for defecating during the flight.Template:Sfn On the morning of the trip he typically ate a steak breakfast.Template:Sfn After having sensors applied to his body and being dressed in the pressure suit, he started breathing pure oxygen to prepare him for the atmosphere of the spacecraft.Template:Sfn He arrived at the launch pad, took the elevator up the launch tower and entered the spacecraft two hours before launch.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Once the astronaut was secured inside, the hatch was bolted, the launch area evacuated and the mobile tower rolled back.Template:Sfn After this, the launch vehicle was filled with liquid oxygen.Template:Sfn The entire procedure of preparing for launch and launching the spacecraft followed a time table called the countdown. It started a day in advance with a pre-count, in which all systems of the launch vehicle and spacecraft were checked. After that followed a 15-hour hold, during which pyrotechnics were installed. Then came the main countdown which for orbital flights started 6½ hours before launch (T – 390 min), counted backwards to launch (T = 0) and then forward until orbital insertion (T + 5 min).Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

File:Vol-Atlas-Mercury.png
Launch and reentry profiles: A-C: launch; D: orbital insertion; E-K: reentry and landing

On an orbital mission, the Atlas' rocket engines were ignited four seconds before lift-off. The launch vehicle was held to the ground by clamps and then released when sufficient thrust was built up at lift-off (A).Template:Sfn After 30 seconds of flight, the point of maximum dynamic pressure against the vehicle was reached, at which the astronaut felt heavy vibrations.Template:Sfn After 2 minutes and 10 seconds, the two outboard booster engines shut down and were released with the aft skirt, leaving the center sustainer engine running (B).Template:Sfn At this point, the launch escape system was no longer needed, and was separated from the spacecraft by its jettison rocket (C).Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The space vehicle moved gradually to a horizontal attitude until, at an altitude of Template:Convert, the sustainer engine shut down and the spacecraft was inserted into orbit (D).Template:Sfn This happened after 5 minutes and 10 seconds in a direction pointing east, whereby the spacecraft would gain speed from the rotation of the Earth.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Here the spacecraft fired the three posigrade rockets for a second to separate it from the launch vehicle.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Just before orbital insertion and sustainer engine cutoff, g-loads peaked at 8 g (6 g for a suborbital flight).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In orbit, the spacecraft automatically turned 180°, pointed the retropackage forward and its nose 14.5° downward and kept this attitude for the rest of the orbital phase to facilitate communication with the ground.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn

Once in orbit, it was not possible for the spacecraft to change its trajectory except by initiating reentry.Template:Sfn Each orbit would typically take 88 minutes to complete.Template:Sfn The lowest point of the orbit, called perigee, was at about Template:Convert altitude, and the highest point, called apogee, was about Template:Convert altitude.Template:Sfn When leaving orbit (E), the angle of retrofire was 34° downward from the flight path angle.Template:Sfn Retrorockets fired for 10 seconds each (F) in a sequence where one started 5 seconds after the other.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn During reentry (G), the astronaut would experience about 8 g (11–12 g on a suborbital mission).Template:Sfn The temperature around the heat shield rose to Template:Convert and at the same time, there was a two-minute radio blackout due to ionization of the air around the spacecraft.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

After reentry, a small, drogue parachute (H) was deployed at Template:Convert for stabilizing the spacecraft's descent.Template:Sfn The main parachute (I) was deployed at Template:Convert starting with a narrow opening that opened fully in a few seconds to lessen the strain on the lines.Template:Sfn Just before hitting the water, the landing bag inflated from behind the heat shield to reduce the force of impact (J).Template:Sfn Upon landing the parachutes were released.Template:Sfn An antenna (K) was raised and sent out signals that could be traced by ships and helicopters.Template:Sfn Further, a green marker dye was spread around the spacecraft to make its location more visible from the air.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Frogmen brought in by helicopters inflated a collar around the craft to keep it upright in the water.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn The recovery helicopter hooked onto the spacecraft and the astronaut blew the escape hatch to exit the capsule.Template:Sfn He was then hoisted aboard the helicopter that finally brought both him and the spacecraft to the ship.Template:Refn

  • Mercury profile.jpg

    Mercury crewed launches

  • Glenn62.jpg

    John Glenn in orbit, 1962 (Mercury-Atlas 6)

  • Shepard Hoisted into Recovery Helicopter - GPN-2000-001361-crop.jpg

    Alan Shepard's 1961 recovery seen from helicopter (Mercury-Redstone 3)

Ground controlEdit

File:Mercury Control crop.jpg
Inside Control Center at Cape Canaveral (Mercury-Atlas 8)

The number of personnel supporting a Mercury mission was typically around 18,000, with about 15,000 people associated with recovery.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn Most of the others followed the spacecraft from the World Wide Tracking Network, a chain of 18 stations placed around the equator, which was based on a network used for satellites and made ready in 1960.Template:Sfn It collected data from the spacecraft and provided two-way communication between the astronaut and the ground.Template:Sfn Each station had a range of Template:Convert and a pass typically lasted 7 minutes.Template:Sfn Mercury astronauts on the ground would take the role of Capsule Communicator, or CAPCOM, who communicated with the astronaut in orbit.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn Data from the spacecraft were sent to the ground, processed at the Goddard Space Center by a redundant pair of transistorized IBM 7090 computers<ref name="NASAComp8" /> and relayed to the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral.Template:Sfn In the Control Center, the data were displayed on boards on each side of a world map, which showed the position of the spacecraft, its ground track and the place it could land in an emergency within the next 30 minutes.Template:Sfn

Other computers associated with ground control for Mercury included a vacuum-tube-based IBM 709 system in Cape Canaveral which determined whether a mid-launch abort might be needed and where an aborting capsule would land, another IBM 709 in Bermuda which served as backup for the two IBM 7090 transistor-based machines at Goddard, and a Burroughs-GE system which provided radio guidance for the Atlas during launch.<ref name="NASAComp8" />

The World Wide Tracking Network went on to serve subsequent space programs, until it was replaced by a satellite relay system in the 1980s.Template:Sfn Mission Control Center was moved from Cape Canaveral to Houston in 1965.Template:Sfn

Template:Hidden begin

  • Mercury Tracking Network 2.png

    Ground track and tracking stations for Mercury-Atlas 8. Spacecraft starts from Cape Canaveral in Florida and moves east; each new orbit-track is displaced to the left due to the rotation of the Earth. It moves between latitudes 32.5° north and 32.5° south.Template:Sfn Key: 1–6: orbit number. Yellow: launch. Black dot: tracking station. Red: range of station; Blue: landing.

Template:Hidden end

FlightsEdit

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space on an orbital flight.Template:Sfn Alan Shepard became the first American in space on a suborbital flight three weeks later, on May 5, 1961.Template:Sfn John Glenn, the third Mercury astronaut to fly, became the first American to reach orbit on February 20, 1962, but only after the Soviets had launched a second cosmonaut, Gherman Titov, into a day-long flight in August 1961.Template:Sfn Three more Mercury orbital flights were made, ending on May 16, 1963, with a day-long, 22 orbit flight.Template:Sfn However, the Soviet Union ended its Vostok program the next month, with the human spaceflight endurance record set by the 82-orbit, almost 5-day Vostok 5 flight.Template:Sfn

CrewedEdit

All of the six crewed Mercury flights were successful, though some planned flights were canceled during the project (see below).Template:Sfn The main medical problems encountered were simple personal hygiene, and post-flight symptoms of low blood pressure.Template:Sfn The launch vehicles had been tested through uncrewed flights, therefore the numbering of crewed missions did not start with 1.Template:Sfn Also, there were two separately numbered series: MR for "Mercury-Redstone" (suborbital flights), and MA for "Mercury-Atlas" (orbital flights). These names were not popularly used, since the astronauts followed a pilot tradition, each giving their spacecraft a name. They selected names ending with a "7" to commemorate the seven astronauts.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Spacecraft production numbers don't match the mission order, with some capsules being reserved as backup or used in tests.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Times given are Coordinated Universal Time, local time + 5 hours. MA = Mercury-Atlas, MR = Mercury-Redstone, LC = Launch Complex.Template:Refn

Mission Spacecraft No. Call-sign Pilot Launch Duration Orbits Apogee
mi (km) 		Perigee
mi (km) 		Max. velocity
mph (km/h) 		Miss
mi (km)
time site
MR-3 7 Freedom 7 Shepard 14:34 on May 5, 1961 LC-5 15 m 22 s 0 117 (188) — Template:Convert 3.5 (5.6)
MR-4 11 Liberty Bell 7 Grissom 12:20 on Jul. 21, 1961 LC-5 15 m 37 s 0 118 (190) — Template:Convert 5.8 (9.3)
MA-6 13 Friendship 7 Glenn 14:47 on Feb. 20, 1962 LC-14 4 h 55 m 23 s 3 162 (261) 100 (161) Template:Convert 46 (74)
MA-7 18 Aurora 7 Carpenter 12:45 on May 24, 1962 LC-14 4 h 56 m 5 s 3 167 (269) 100 (161) Template:Convert 248 (400)
MA-8 16 Sigma 7 Schirra 12:15 on Oct. 3, 1962 LC-14 9 h 13 m 15 s 6 176 (283) 100 (161) Template:Convert 4.6 (7.4)
MA-9 20 Faith 7 Cooper 13:04 on May 15, 1963 LC-14 1 d 10 h 19 m 49 s 22 166 (267) 100 (161) Template:Convert 5.0 (8.1)
  • Kennedy, Johnson, and others watching flight of Astronaut Shepard on television, 05 May 1961.png

    Shepard's flight watched on TV in the White House. May 1961.

  • Astronaut John Glenn being Honored - GPN-2000-000607.jpg

    John Glenn honored by the President. February 1962

  • USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) crew spells out 'Mercury 9' on the flight deck, 15 May 1963 (GPN-2000-001403).jpg

    USS Kearsarge with crew spelling Mercury-9. May 1963.

Uncrewed and chimpanzee flightsEdit

The 20 uncrewed flights used Little Joe, Redstone, and Atlas launch vehicles.Template:Sfn They were used to develop the launch vehicles, launch escape system, spacecraft and tracking network.Template:Sfn One flight of a Scout rocket attempted to launch a specialized satellite equipped with Mercury communications components for testing the ground tracking network, but the booster failed soon after liftoff. The Little Joe program used seven airframes for eight flights, of which three were successful. The second Little Joe flight was named Little Joe 6, because it was inserted into the program after the first 5 airframes had been allocated.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Production spacecraft and boilerplates were used for these test flights.<ref name=":0" /> Template:Sticky header

MissionTemplate:Refn Spacecraft No. Launch Duration Purpose Result
Little Joe 1 Boilerplate August 21, 1959 20 s Test of launch escape system during flight. Failure
Big Joe 1 Big Joe Boilerplate September 9, 1959 13 m 00 s Test of heat shield and Atlas/spacecraft interface. Partial success
Little Joe 6 Boilerplate October 4, 1959 5 m 10 s Test of spacecraft aerodynamics and integrity. Partial success
Little Joe 1A Boilerplate November 4, 1959 8 m 11 s Test of launch escape system during flight with boiler plate capsule. Partial success
Little Joe 2 Boilerplate December 4, 1959 11 m 6 s Escape system test with primate at high altitude. Success
Little Joe 1B Boilerplate January 21, 1960 8 m 35 s Maximum-q abort and escape test with primate with boiler plate capsule. Success
Beach Abort 1 May 9, 1960 1 m 31 s Test of the off-the-pad abort system. Success
Mercury-Atlas 1 4 July 29, 1960 3 m 18 s Test of spacecraft / Atlas combination. Failure
Little Joe 5 3 November 8, 1960 2 m 22 s First Little Joe escape system test with a production spacecraft, at max-q. Failure
Mercury-Redstone 1 2 November 21, 1960 2 s Qualification of spacecraft / Redstone combination. Failure
Mercury-Redstone 1A 2 December 19, 1960 15 m 45 s Qualification of spacecraft / Redstone combination. Success
Mercury-Redstone 2 5 January 31, 1961 16 m 39 s Qualification of spacecraft with chimpanzee named Ham. Success
Mercury-Atlas 2 6 February 21, 1961 17 m 56 s Qualified Mercury/Atlas interface. Success
Little Joe 5A 14 March 18, 1961 5 m 25 s Second test of escape system with a production Mercury spacecraft. Partial success
Mercury-Redstone BD Boilerplate March 24, 1961 8 m 23 s Final Redstone test flight. Success
Mercury-Atlas 3 8 April 25, 1961 7 m 19 s Orbital flight with robot astronaut.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn Failure
Little Joe 5B 14 April 28, 1961 5 m 25 s Third test of escape system with a production spacecraft. Success
Mercury-Atlas 4 8 September 13, 1961 1 h 49 m 20 s Test of environmental control system with robot astronaut in orbit. Success
Mercury-Scout 1 - November 1, 1961 44 s Special satellite to test Mercury tracking network. Failure
Mercury-Atlas 5 9 November 29, 1961 3 h 20 m 59 s Test of environmental control system in orbit with chimpanzee named Enos. Success

Template:Legend

  • Launch of Little Joe 1B, January 21, 1960.jpg

    Little Joe 1B at launch with Miss Sam, 1960

  • Escape rocket of Mercury-Redstone 1-crop.jpg

    Mercury-Redstone 1: launch escape system lift-off after 4'' launch, 1960

  • Chimpanzee Ham in Biopack Couch for MR-2 flight MSFC-6100114.jpg

    Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham, 1961

  • Chimpanzee Enos before the flight of Mercury-Atlas 5 (cropped).jpg

    Mercury-Atlas 5: Enos, 1961

CanceledEdit

File:Jupiter atlas redstone rockets comparison.jpg
Mercury-Jupiter (center) compared with Redstone (left) and Atlas (right).

Nine of the planned flights were canceled.

Mercury-Jupiter was a proposed suborbital launch configuration consisting of a Jupiter missile carrying a Mercury capsule. Two flights were planned in support of Project Mercury. The Mercury-Jupiter 1 flight would have been a heat shield test. The Mercury-Jupiter 2 flight was planned as a maximum dynamic pressure qualification test of the production Mercury spacecraft with a chimpanzee on board.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On July 1, 1959, less than a year after the October, 1958 program start date, the flights were canceled due to budget constraints.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Suborbital flights were planned for four other astronauts but the number of flights was cut down gradually and finally all remaining were canceled after Titov's flight.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn

Mercury-Atlas 9 was intended to be followed by more one-day flights and even a three-day flight but with the coming of the Gemini Project it seemed unnecessary. The Jupiter booster was, as mentioned above, intended to be used for different purposes.

Mission Pilot Planned Launch Cancellation
Mercury-Jupiter 1 July 1, 1959Template:Sfn
Mercury-Jupiter 2 Chimpanzee First quarter, 1960 July 1, 1959Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
Mercury-Redstone 5 Glenn (likely) March 1960Template:Sfn August 1961Template:Sfn
Mercury-Redstone 6 April 1960Template:Sfn July 1961Template:Sfn
Mercury-Redstone 7 May 1960Template:Sfn
Mercury-Redstone 8 June 1960Template:Sfn
Mercury-Atlas 10 Shepard October 1963 June 13, 1963Template:Refn
Mercury-Atlas 11 Grissom Fourth quarter, 1963 October 1962<ref name="Mercury-Atlas 11"/>
Mercury-Atlas 12 Schirra Fourth quarter, 1963 October 1962<ref name="Mercury-Atlas 12"/>

LegacyEdit

File:Gordon cooper ticker tape.png
Ticker tape parade for Gordon Cooper in New York City, May 1963

Today the Mercury program is commemorated as the first American human space program.Template:Sfn It did not win the race against the Soviet Union, but gave back national prestige and was scientifically a successful precursor of later programs such as Gemini, Apollo and Skylab.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

During the 1950s, some experts doubted that human spaceflight was possible.Template:Refn Still, when John F. Kennedy was elected president, many, including him, had doubts about the project.Template:Sfn As president he chose to support the programs a few months before the launch of Freedom 7,Template:Sfn which became a public success.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Afterwards, a majority of the American public supported human spaceflight, and, within a few weeks, Kennedy announced a plan for a crewed mission to land on the Moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s.Template:Sfn

The six astronauts who flew were awarded medals,Template:Sfn driven in parades and two of them were invited to address a joint session of the US Congress.Template:Sfn Seeing as no women previously met the qualifications for the astronaut program, the question was raised as to whether or not they could. This led to the development of a project named Mercury 13 by the media, in which thirteen American women successfully underwent the tests. The Mercury 13 program was not officially conducted by NASA. It was created by NASA physician William Randolph Lovelace, who developed the physical and psychological tests used to select NASA's first seven male astronauts for Project Mercury. The women completed physical and psychological tests, but were never required to complete the training as the privately funded program was quickly cancelled. No female candidates adequately met the qualifications for the astronaut program until 1978, when a few finally qualified for the Space Shuttle program.Template:Sfn

Military Highway in Hampton, Virginia and Newport News, Virginia was renamed to Mercury Boulevard.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On February 25, 2011, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest technical professional society, awarded Boeing (the successor company to McDonnell Aircraft) a Milestone Award for important inventions which debuted on the Mercury spacecraft.<ref name="BoeingMedia" />Template:Refn

Depictions on filmEdit

A short documentary, The John Glenn Story, was released in 1962.

On film the program was portrayed in The Right Stuff, a 1983 adaptation of Tom Wolfe's 1979 book of the same name,<ref name="IMdBRightStuff" /> in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, and the 2020 Disney+ series The Right Stuff, which is also based on the Tom Wolfe book.

CommemorationsEdit

In 1964, a monument commemorating Project Mercury was unveiled near Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, featuring a metal logo combining the symbol of Mercury with the number 7.<ref name="Monument" /> This design was first issued to the Mercury astronauts in 1960 as a lapel pin.<ref name="pin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1962, the United States Postal Service honored the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight with a Project Mercury commemorative stamp, the first US postal issue to depict a crewed spacecraft.<ref name="GlennStamp" />Template:Refn

DisplaysEdit

The spacecraft that flew, together with some that did not, are on display in the United States. Friendship 7 (Spacecraft No. 13) went on a global tour, popularly known as its "fourth orbit".Template:Sfn

PatchesEdit

Commemorative patches were designed by entrepreneurs after the Mercury program to satisfy collectors.<ref name="patches" />Template:Refn

  • Mercury 3 - Patch.png
  • Mercury 4 - Patch.png
  • Mercury 6 - Patch.png
  • Aurora 7 patch.png
  • Mercury-8-patch.png
  • Mercury 9 - Patch.png

VideosEdit

  • MA-6.theora.ogv

    John Glenn documentary from 50th Anniversary of Friendship 7, 2012.

Space program comparisonEdit

  • NASA spacecraft comparison.jpg

    NASA illustration comparing boosters and spacecraft from Apollo (biggest), Gemini and Mercury (smallest).

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

|CitationClass=web }}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Project Mercury {{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:NASA navbox Template:McDD aircraft Template:Spaceflight Template:Spaceflight lists and timelines Template:Crewed spacecraft Template:US history Template:Authority control Template:Portal bar

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Project_Mercury&oldid=12818"