Project Mercury - The First Americans in Space

Mercury Space Capsule

Mercury Redstone and Atlas rocket Illustration

Mercury-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas rockets. (With human figure for scale.)

Mercury Program

Started in 1958, Project Mercury was the United States' first manned spacecraft program. The program included a number of unmanned test flights, some including primates, prior to flying human astronauts.

A total of six manned missions were flown. Two suborbital missions were followed by four orbital missions. Suborbital missions were launched using Redstone rockets, while orbital flights were made using Atlas launchers.

Manned Mercury Missions
Name	Launch Date	Designation	Launcher	Orbits	Crew	Mission Objective
Freedom 7	5 MAY 1961	MR-3	Redstone (MR-7)	---	Alan B. Shepard, Jr.	Suborbital flight
Liberty Bell 7	21 JUL 1961	MR-4	Redstone (MR-8)	---	Virgil "Gus" Grissom	Suborbital flight
Friendship 7	20 FEB 1962	MA-6	Atlas (109-D)	3	John H. Glenn, Jr.	Orbital flight
Aurora 7	24 MAY 1962	MA-7	Atlas (107-D)	3	M. Scott Carpenter	Orbital flight
Sigma 7	3 OCT 1962	MA-8	Atlas (113-D)	6	Walter M. Schirra, Jr.	Orbital flight
Faith 7	15 MAY 1963	MA-9	Atlas (130-D)	22	L. Gordon Cooper	Orbital flight

Mercury MR-4 Capsule

Mercury MR-4 (Liberty Bell 7) Capsule. Launched on July 21, 1961, astronaut Gus Grissom conducted a sub-orbital flight in this spacecraft. (Photos: John Karpiej, 2005)

Mercury MA-6 Capsule

Mercury MA-6 (Friendship 7) Capsule on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Launched on February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn conducted three orbits in this spacecraft. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2008)

Mercury MA-7 Capsule

Mercury MA-7 (Aurora 7) Capsule on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Launched on May 24, 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter conducted three orbits in this spacecraft. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2008)

Mercury Capsule MA-7 Parachute Compartment

Mercury MA-8 Capsule

Mercury MA-8 (Sigma 7) Capsule on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Launched on October 3, 1962, astronaut Wally Schirra conducted six orbits in this spacecraft. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2009)

Mercury MA-9 Capsule

Mercury MA-9 (Faith 7) Capsule on display at Space Center Houston. Launched on May 15, 1963, astronaut Gordon Cooper conducted 22.5 orbits in this spacecraft. (Photos: Kevin Barrett, 2009)

Mercury Capsule 12B (Unflown)

Mercury Capsule 12B on display at Kennedy Space Center. This spacecraft served as a backup for Wally Schirra's MA-8 (Sigma 7) mission. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2009)

Mercury 15B Capsule (Unflown)

Mercury 15B (Freedom 7 II) Capsule on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2008)

Mercury Capsule MA-15B retro rocket package

Mercury Capsule 17 (Unflown)

Mercury Capsule on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Although this spacecraft is flight-rated, it was not flown. (Photos: Richard Kruse, 2007)

Mercury-Redstone

The first successful Mercury-Redstone rocket flew on 19DEC1960. The rocket was used to launch Mercury capsules on suborbital trajectories into space. On 5MAY1961, a Mercury-Redstone launched America's first astronaut, Alan Sheppard, into space. On 21JUL1961, another Mercury-Redstone launched Virgil Gus Grissom into space.