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The Mercury Program was the first step toward putting human beings in space.
There were three clearly stated objectives for the Mercury missions: orbit a
human being around Earth, test human functioning in space, and recover the
person and spacecraft safely.
Officially started in 1958, the Mercury program lasted for nearly five years.
There were 25 total flights under the Mercury program, six of which were human
space flights. In the beginning, rockets were launched either empty or with
chimpanzees. After a number of test flights, the first American was launched
into space on May 5, 1961. On that date Alan B. Shepard rode Mercury-Redstone 3
into suborbital flight for 15 minutes and 28 seconds. His spacecraft was named
Freedom 7.
Following Shepard, Virgil I. Grissom completed a second suborbital flight
that lasted 15 minutes and 37 seconds. This flight, Mercury-Redstone 4, was
named Liberty Bell 7. While considered a successful mission, the spacecraft sank
just after splashdown. After Grissom’s flight, the program moved into a new
phase. (July 21, 1961)
 The
first Atlas rocket carried John H. Glenn Jr. into orbital flight. Glenn, the
first American to orbit Earth, completed three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes and
23 seconds of flight. Mercury-Atlas 6 was also known as Friendship 7. (February
20, 1962)
M. Scott Carpenter duplicated Glenn’s feat with an additional orbital flight
lasting 4 hours 56 minutes and 5 seconds. Mercury-Atlas 7 was designated Aurora
7. (May 24, 1962)
Walter M. Schirra Jr. piloted Sigma 7 for 9 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds.
Mercury-Atlas 8 was a six-orbit flight. (October 03, 1962)
The final Mercury flight occurred on May 15 and 16 1963. The 34 hour 19
minute and 46 second flight helped L. Gordon Cooper evaluate the effects of
weightlessness on the human body for one full day in space. The 22-orbit flight
was the longest of the Mercury flights and prepared NASA for the next step in
the space program.
Mercury was a very successful program. The barrier of flying in space had
been broken without a single life being lost. A great deal of knowledge had been
gained about what it would take for longer duration missions to be successful.
Even as the Mercury program was coming to a close, the Gemini
Program was already in the planning stages.
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