| Flight | Launch Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury 3 | 5 May 1961 | Alan Shepard reached 187 km (116 miles) high aboard Freedom 7 in a suborbital lob. Shepard's next flight was in 1971 to the moon aboard Apollo 14. |
| Mercury 4 | 21 July 1961 | Virgil Grissom reached 195 km (121 miles) in a repeat of Shepard's flight. Liberty Bell 7 sank following splashdown. Grissom flew aboard Gemini 3 in March 1965 and died in the Apollo fire in January 1967. |
| Mercury 6 | 20 Febuary 1962 | John Glenn became the first American in orbit aboard Frendship 7, completing 3 orbits in 5 hours. Glenn entered politics for a while before returning to NASA to fly on STS-?? in 199? |
| Mercury 7 | 24 May 1962 | Scott Carpenter, in Aurora 7, repeated Glenn's flight. Overshot 400 km (250 miles) on landing. Never flew again. |
| Mercury 8 | 3 October 1962 | Walter Schirra completed 6 orbits in 9 hours 13 minutes in Sigma 7. He later flew aboard Gemini 6 and Apollo 7; the first man into space three times. |
| Mercury 9 | 15 May 1963 | Gordon Cooper closed Project Mercury with 22 orbits in 34 hours 19 minutes in Faith 7. He flew Gemini 5 in August 1965. |
The Race To Space
In 1958, President Eisenhower announced the Mercury project. The primary objective of this project was to put a man into space before the Soviet Union did so. The United States lost the first battle in the space race, after the launch of Sputnik 1 on 4th October 1957. After that, the first man into space had to be an American.
To achieve the goal of bringing a man into space, President Eisenhower set up the federal institution NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Aministration), officially on 29th July 1958. Although NASA was formally an institution for civillian (space-)flight research, the first US astronauts (the Mercury 7 astronauts) were all from the military. Even the most important engineer, the German Werner von Braun came from military research, after the development of the terrible V-2.
On 12th April 1961, the Soviets launched Vostok 1. This launch destroyed the American dream (and plans) of making the first man in space an American, on board of Vostok-1 was Yuri Gagarin, who made one Earth orbit. The Americans had also lost the second great battle in the spacerace…
The first American in space was Alan Shepard, launched on May 5th 1961, in the Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7). Although the difference between Gagarin and Shepard was only 23 days, the performance of the Russians was much better. Gagarin was weightless for 89 minutes, Shepard for only five. Gagarin made a complete orbit, Shepard was just launched to an altitude of 180 kilometers and dropped back down to Earth, the total duration of that flight was just 15 minutes…
Playing Catch-up
It took NASA ten months to prepare a spacecraft, a launch vehicle and an astronaut to make an orbit. On 21st July 1961, Virgil Grissom made a flight that was almost the same as Shepard's mission. Grissom was the astronaut of Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7). After the flight, that took also a quarter of an hour, there were no problems. However, after re-entry, the hatch was smashed a way and the capsule could not be secured. Grissom nearly drowned and the Liberty-Bell 7 sunk. The capsule was found (and secured) in May 1999.
NASA used animals to test equipment in Earth orbit. The Russians used dogs (Laika of Sputnik-2), NASA used chimpanzees. The final orbital test took place on 29th November 1961, when Enos the chimpanzee was launched in Mercury-Atlas 5 and made 2 orbits.
The first American in orbit was John Glenn on 20th February 1962. He was launched in Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) and made 3 orbits. The flight was certainly not without problems, Glenn had to fly the last two orbits manually after the autopilot failed. There were also problems with the heatshield, but the (still) attached retro-pack saved his live during re-entry. His flight took almost 5 hours.
On 20th May 1962 Scott Carpenter was launched as second American in orbit. His flight was simular to Glenn's mission, three orbits were made in the Mercury-Atlas 6 (Aurora 7). Donald Slayton was the original astronaut to fly Mercury 6, but he was replaced by Scott Carpenter after doctors discovered an erratic heartbeat. Despite of that, Slayton would be launched 13 years later, to fly the Apollo in the Apollo-Soyuz project.
Walter Schirra was launched on October 3 1962, in Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7). He made 6 orbits, in more than 9 hours. The last mission of the Mercury project was flown by Gordon Cooper, in the Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7). Launched on 15th May 1963, he made 22 orbits in 34 hours. Re-entry took place one day after the launch, on 16th May 1963.
The Mercury project was a success. The primary objectives were achieved. Men were brought into orbit, technology to stay alive in space and to attempt a lunar landing was developed. There was also much learned of reaction of the human body in space.