At the beginning of the Space Program

Project Mercury

America’s First Man-in-Space Program

Begun in 1958 and completed in 1963, Project Mercury was America’s first man-in-space program. It consisted of seven astronauts and six manned flights. At the same time the United States was working towards putting a man in space, so was our competitor, the Soviet Union (also known as Russia). This competition came to be known as the “Space Race.” Although the Russians won the first leg of the “Space Race” when they successfully launched Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, the United States went on to dominate the exploration of space for decades to come. We now work to explore space in partnership with Russia and fifteen other nations.

The Best of the Best

America’s first spacemen were chosen from hundreds of applicants who were either test pilots or military pilots, or both. After undergoing extensive, exhaustive physical and mental testing, these men were named the “Best of the Best” and were hired to work for the newly established government agency known as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Given the title “astronaut” or star voyager, these courageous men trained for years for the opportunity to be carried aloft in a spacecraft.

(Original Mercury astronauts from left to right: Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton)

Goals of the Mercury Program

Orbit a Human

There were several main goals of the Mercury program. One goal was to orbit a manned spacecraft around the earth. To successfully accomplish this goal, it was necessary to design and build gigantic, powerful rockets capable of lifting a spacecraft out of Earth’s gravity. The Redstone rocket was developed by a team of German rocket scientists, led by Dr. Wernher von Braun. The Redstone rocket was used for suborbital flights including unmanned flights, flights carrying “astrochimps” Ham and Enos, and the manned flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. The more powerful Atlas rocket was used for the manned orbital flights of Glenn, Schirra, Carpenter, and Cooper. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. His flight was a suborbital one lasting only fifteen minutes, but it launched him into the history books. Although the scientists and engineers in Mission Control were nervous about launching him that day, Shepard was cool and unafraid. When they were discussing yet another hold on the launch, Shepard spoke up, saying, “I’m cooler than you are. Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle!” They did. Shepard flew to an altitude of 116 miles and traveled at a top speed of 5134 miles per hour.
(in the picture) Astronaut Shepard, first American in space, on board a Navy ship shortly after his historic flight. Shepard is the only Mercury astronaut to go on to fly an Apollo mission and walk on the Moon.

Effects of Weightlessness on Humans

Investigating man’s ability to function in space was another primary goal of the Mercury program. Would a person’s heart continue to beat when in space? Without gravity could a person swallow? Would food and blood be carried throughout the body in the absence of gravity? During the orbital flights beginning with John Glenn’s three earth orbits, NASA studied the effects of weightlessness on the various functions of the body. It was proven that humans could successfully breathe, eat, and eliminate even in conditions of weightlessness. Glenn was the first astronaut to try eating a meal in space. He returned to Earth safe and sound, the first American to orbit the Earth.
(In the picture) February 1962: Astronaut John Glenn entering his spacecraft, Friendship 7 for the first American orbital flight.

Safe Recovery of Both Astronaut and Spacecraft

The third main goal of Project Mercury was to recover both man and the spacecraft safely. Safety of the astronaut was NASA’s priority. When it was discovered that astronaut Deke Slayton had an irregular heartbeat, he was grounded from flight. He became the head of the astronaut program instead. Years later, after Slayton received treatment for his heart condition, he was returned to flight status. He went on to fly the Apollo-Soyuz mission joining a Russian spacecraft with an American one while in orbit high above the earth.

(In the picture) Astronaut Deke Slayton entering a Russian spacecraft after a successful docking. The Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first joint space mission between Russia and the United States.

While all the Mercury astronauts were returned safely to Earth, one spacecraft was lost for years when it sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1961, Liberty Bell 7, which carried astronaut Gus Grissom into orbit, sank after landing. The hatch blew open prematurely. With sea water pouring into the capsule, it began to sink before Navy helicopters could lift it aboard a Navy ship. Meanwhile, Grissom, who had safely exited the spacecraft, was also sinking as water poured into the open neck of his spacesuit. Once the helicopter pilot recognized Grissom was in danger of drowning, efforts to save the spacecraft were abandoned and Grissom was successfully lifted from the water and transported to the nearby Navy ship. The search for Grissom’s spacecraft, the Liberty Bell 7, was launched many years later. Resting on the ocean floor for thirty-eight years, it was finally located and brought to the surface. After touring the United States, it now rests in the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.Unfortunately, Gus Grissom lost his life six years later along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee when their Apollo 1 spacecraft erupted in fire during a training exercise on the ground.

(In the picture) The Liberty Bell found after 38 years

One-Man Capsule

The Mercury spacecraft was a cone-shaped, one man capsule with a cylinder mounted on top. The blunt end of the capsule was covered with a fiberglass heat shield to protect it against the 3000 degree heat of reentry into the atmosphere. The capsule was nine and one-half feet long and six feet wide at the base. It weighed 2,980 pounds. Small thruster control jets in the nose of the capsule regulated its sideways, upward, and downward movements. Each astronaut named his capsule and added the numeral 7 to symbolize the teamwork of the original seven astronauts.

The Space Race Continued

In 1961, three weeks after Alan Shepard’s historic flight, President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. He called for this to be achieved before the end of the decade. Project Mercury ended in 1963, followed by Project Gemini, and then Project Apollo. During this time, the Russians continued to score “firsts” in space which included sending the first woman into space, performing the first spacewalk, and building and inhabiting the first space station to orbit Earth. However, on July 20, 1969, it was an American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, in Apollo 11, who first set foot upon the Moon. The final leg of the “Space Race” was over and America was the winner.