The Mercury Seven: America's First Astronauts

 Project Mercury, America's first "man in space program", was initiated in 1958 and completed in 1963.  The goals of the program, which consisted of six manned flights from 1961 to 1963 were:

To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth

To investigate man's ability to function in space
 

To recover both man and spacecraft safely.

There were a total of seven men who were chosen to be The Mercury Seven
 America's First Astronauts:

From Top Left: Alan B. Shepard, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, L. Gordon Cooper
Bottom Left: Wally Schirra, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter

 Freedom 7: 1961

 Each one of the flights, or missions as they were sometimes referred to, were given a name: the first one, which took place on May 5, 1961 was known as "Freedom Seven." During this flight Alan B. Shepard became the very first American to travel into space. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard's sub-orbital flight only lasted a total of 15 minutes and 28 seconds but it was the beginning of America's Space Program which continues today. 

Liberty Bell: July 21, 1961: 

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom became the second American in space on July 21, 1961. Gus'flight lasted 15 minutes and 37 seconds.  Liberty Bell was the second sub-orbital flight during Project Mercury.

WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES SUB-ORBITAL MEAN?

Sub-orbital means the rocket reached space but didn't have enough speed to circle or complete an orbit around the earth.  The third Mercury flight, known as "Friendship 7" was the first orbital flight to successfully accomplish orbital flight.

Friendship 7: February 20, 1962

 In order to go to the moon, we had to circle the earth first.  Astronaut John H. Glenn became a national hero when he successfully orbited his capsule, "Friendship 7" 3 times around the earth.

After "Friendship 7" there were 3 more flights:

Aurora 7: May 24, 1962

Astronaut Scott Carpenter flew aboard Aurora 7 for 4 hours, 56 minutes, 5 second, beating John Glenn's record by less than a minute! 

Sigma 7: October 3, 1962

On October 3, 1962 Walter M. Schirra, known by his friends and family as "Wally," set a new record of orbits and time spent in space: 6 orbits in 9 hours, 13 minutes, 11 seconds!

 

Faith 7: Project Mercury’s Final Flight

May 15-16, 1963

 On May 15-16, 1963 Astronaut L. Gordon "Gordo" Cooper became the first American to spend the night in space.  Gordo's flight lasted 1 day, 10 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds and was a fitting end to America's first Space Program


"Deke"

Of the seven original astronauts, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton was not able to complete a flight during Project Mercury because it was discovered he had an irregular heartbeat.  Deke went on to become the Director of Flight Crew Operations at Mission Control.

On July 15, 1975 Astronaut Deke Slayton finally had his chance to fly into space as a member of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

NASA. (2000, September 27). The Mercury Project: Goals. The Mercury Project - Goals. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-goals.htm

Carpenter, M. S. (2013). Official NASA Documents on Project Mercury. NASA and Project Mercury. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://www.scottcarpenter.com/project_mercury1.htm

Slayton, D. K. (1995). Deke! An Autobiography. New York, NY: Forge Books.