Project Mercury
The First United States Manned Space Missions
1958-1963
Project Mercury was not just one mission. It was a project that took five years, with many rockets launched. Project Mercury was the first attempt by the United States to put a rocket into space with a human being aboard.

Most of these rockets didn't have astronauts aboard, since they were designed to test the spacecraft and the ways they would use to recover it after the mission. They didn't risk a person's life when they were testing things.

After many tests, there were six missions which actually had astronauts aboard. The first one, which was called Freedom 7, had an astronaut aboard whose name was Alan Shepherd. His flight lasted only fifteen minutes. There is a list of the manned missions below, with the names of the men who flew them.


When did it start?

1958
When was it finished?
1963
What were they trying to learn?
How to orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth

How to find out about man's ability to work in space

How to recover both man and spacecraft safely from space

Was the project successful?
Yes, the project was successful. The United States launched rockets with astronauts aboard. They went into space and came back safely to earth.
Where did the spaceships go?
The first one just went up high enough to be in space, then came back down. Later missions actually went around the earth (into orbit). None of them left orbit, however.
How did the Mercury Project help people learn about space?
Scientists had a lot to learn in the 1950s and 1960s, since no one had ever gone into space before. Scientists invented ways to send a person safely into space and have them come safely back to earth. What they learned helped them as they worked on the next projects, Gemini and Apollo. What they learned is even helpful today as we send shuttles into space and to the International Space Station.

Manned Mercury Missions
name
date
astronaut
Freedom 7
May 5, 1961
Alan B. Shepherd
Liberty Bell 7
July 21, 1961
Virgil "Gus" Grissom 
Friendship 7
 February 20, 1962
 John H. Glenn, Jr. 
Aurora 7
 May 24, 1962
 Scott Carpenter 
Sigma 7
 October 3, 1962 
 Walter M. Schirra, Jr. 
Faith 7
 May 15, 1963
 L. Gordon Cooper


 
 

page editor: Steve Vander Ark
page date: November 20, 2002
original material copyright 2002 Byron Center Christian School
resources for this page: The Mercury Archives