Project Mercury

Project Mercury

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It ran from 1958 through 1963. This happened during an exciting time called the Space Race. In the Space Race, the United States and the Soviet Union tried to do new things in space.

The main goal of Project Mercury was to send a person into orbit around Earth and bring them back safely. The program included 20 flights without people. Some of these flights carried animals. There were also six successful flights with astronauts. These astronauts were called the Mercury Seven. Each of their spacecraft had a name ending with the number 7.

Project Mercury cost a lot of money—about $2.83 billion when adjusted for inflation today. The space capsules could carry water, food, and oxygen for about one day. The flights launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Space Race began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite. This surprised many people in the United States and led to the creation of NASA. After the United States launched its own satellite called Explorer 1, the next goal was to send a person into space. The Soviet Union achieved this first with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The United States followed with Alan Shepard’s suborbital flight. Later, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962.

The success of Project Mercury helped make space travel popular. Many people followed the missions on radio and TV. It also set the stage for Project Gemini. This prepared the way for the Apollo program and eventual crewed lunar landings.

Creation

Project Mercury was approved on October 7, 1958, and announced to the public on December 17. It was first called Project Astronaut but was renamed Mercury after a figure from classical mythology. The name matched other rocket names like Atlas and Jupiter. The program took over military projects to send people into space.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in making new technologies, including missiles and satellites. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and later sent a dog into orbit. This led the United States to create NASA, a civilian agency for space exploration. NASA's first goal was to launch a satellite, which it did with Pioneer 1 in 1958. The next goal was to send a person into space.

The program aimed to orbit a spacecraft around Earth, see how well a pilot could work in space, and safely bring back both the pilot and spacecraft. NASA used existing technology and chose simple, reliable designs. The spacecraft needed systems to escape during launch, control its position in orbit, leave orbit, handle reentry, and land in water. A network for talking to the spacecraft during missions was also built.

Spacecraft

The Mercury spacecraft was designed by Maxime Faget. It was 10.8 feet long and 6.0 feet wide, with a total length of 25.9 feet when the launch escape system was added. The capsule had space for one crew member and included 120 controls such as switches, fuses, and levers. The heaviest spacecraft, Mercury-Atlas 9, weighed 3,000 pounds when fully loaded. Its outer skin was made from a special nickel alloy to handle high temperatures.

The spacecraft had a cone shape with a narrow neck and a convex base. The base carried a heat shield made of aluminum honeycomb covered with fiberglass layers. It also had a retropack with three rockets to help slow the spacecraft during reentry. Inside, the astronaut sat in a custom-molded seat with instruments in front, facing the heat shield. The spacecraft relied on ground computers for calculations during reentry, with instructions sent by radio. It did not have an on-board computer.

The astronaut sat with their back to the heat shield, which helped them handle the strong forces during launch and reentry. They wore a special suit with its own oxygen supply for cooling. The cabin had pure oxygen at low pressure to control the environment and save weight. The astronaut could control the spacecraft in three ways: remotely from the ground, automatically by instruments, or manually using controls. This manual control was important, as it allowed astronauts to guide their spacecraft during reentry when needed.

Launch vehicles

A 55-foot-long launch vehicle named Little Joe was used for early tests. These tests checked the safety system of the Mercury spacecraft. The Little Joe rocket used special fuel and could fly up to 100 miles high.

For shorter flights that did not go all the way around Earth, the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle was used. It was taller than Little Joe and could change direction during flight. For missions that needed to go around Earth, the larger Atlas LV-3B rocket was used. This strong rocket had two main parts that worked together to help the spacecraft reach orbit.

Astronauts

NASA introduced seven astronauts, called the Mercury Seven, on April 9, 1959. Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. He showed that astronauts could handle the strong forces of launch and re-entry. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962.

The astronauts had many tasks. They talked to the public and visited places where Project Mercury was being built. They shared their stories with Life magazine.

Selection and training

Before Project Mercury, there was no clear way to choose astronauts. NASA decided to look for experienced military test pilots. They needed to be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than 5 ft 11 in, and have a college degree in science or engineering. From over 500 pilots, 32 were chosen for more tests on their health and mental skills.

The astronauts trained hard. They learned to handle the forces of space travel and practiced in special planes. They also learned to control a spinning spacecraft and how to land safely, both in water and with help from teams on the ground.

Mission profile

In the early missions, a Redstone rocket helped the spacecraft reach a height of about 32 nautical miles. After the rocket stopped, the spacecraft continued on its own and landed in the Atlantic Ocean. These flights lasted about 15 minutes and took the astronaut up to about 102 nautical miles before coming back down.

For the later orbital missions, astronauts prepared for weeks before launch. On the day of the launch, they followed a special diet and wore special suits. After getting into the spacecraft, the rocket lifted it into space. Once in orbit, the spacecraft traveled around Earth every 88 minutes. To come back, the spacecraft used special rockets to slow down and begin reentry. The heat shield protected the astronaut from the extreme heat, and parachutes helped the spacecraft land gently in the ocean. Crew members were then picked up by helicopters and taken to a ship.

Ground control

About 18,000 people helped with a Mercury mission, with even more people working to bring the spacecraft back safely. Many of these helpers tracked the spacecraft using the Mercury Space Flight Network. This network had 18 stations around the world, set up in 1960. The stations talked to the astronauts and collected important information.

Sometimes, astronauts on the ground talked to the astronaut in space. They were called the Capsule Communicator, or CAPCOM. Information from the spacecraft went to the Goddard Space Center. Special computers there processed the information and sent it to the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral. At the control center, the information was shown on screens. The screens displayed where the spacecraft was, its path, and possible emergency landing spots.

Flights

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962.

Three more Mercury flights went around Earth, ending on May 16, 1963. The Soviet Union stopped its Vostok program the next month.

All six crewed Mercury flights were successful, though some planned flights were canceled. The main health issues were simple personal hygiene and feeling weak after the flight. The rockets were tested without people first, so the first crewed mission was not number 1. There were two types of missions: MR for shorter flights, and MA for longer flights.

The 20 uncrewed flights used different rockets to test the spacecraft and tracking system. One flight of a Scout rocket failed soon after it launched.

Nine flights were planned but never happened.

Mercury-Jupiter was a plan to use a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight, but it was canceled because of money problems.

More suborbital flights were planned, but they were canceled after Gherman Titov flew.

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the last Mercury flight. More flights were planned, but they were not needed after the Gemini Project began.

Legacy

Today, the Mercury program is remembered as the first American human space program. It helped restore national pride and served as a foundation for later programs like Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab.

When John F. Kennedy became president, many people had doubts about human spaceflight. But he chose to support the program just before the launch of Freedom 7, which became a public success. After this, most Americans supported human spaceflight, and Kennedy announced a plan for a mission to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely before the end of the 1960s.

The six astronauts who flew were honored with medals and parades. At the time, no women met the qualifications for the astronaut program. Women did not qualify for the astronaut program until 1978, when some finally joined the Space Shuttle program.

Military Highway in Hampton, Virginia and Newport News, Virginia was renamed Mercury Boulevard. In 2011, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers awarded Boeing for important inventions first used on Mercury spacecraft.

Depictions on film

The program was shown in several films and TV shows, including The John Glenn Story, The Right Stuff, From the Earth to the Moon, Hidden Figures, and The Right Stuff.

Commemorations

In 1964, a monument for Project Mercury was placed near Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral. The United States Postal Service also issued a stamp in 1962 to honor the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight.

Displays

Many Mercury spacecraft are displayed in museums across the United States. For example, Friendship 7 is at the National Air and Space Museum, and Freedom 7 is at the United States Naval Academy.

Patches

After the Mercury program, entrepreneurs created commemorative patches for collectors.

Videos

A special documentary about John Glenn was made in 2012 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Friendship 7 flight.

Space program comparison

NASA made an illustration to compare the sizes of three important American space programs. The Apollo program was the largest. Next was Gemini. Then came Mercury, which was the smallest. These programs helped the United States explore space during the Space Race.