View
the
Individual Manned Missions
of
Project Mercury
During the span of 1961 to 1963, NASA
conducted six manned missions.
Each mission consisted of one astronaut from
the Mercury Seven being launched into the
Earth's atmosphere by a rocket. Astronauts were protected only by
the confined capsule which sat on top of the powerful rocket. Each
of the missions accomplished a new goal for NASA space exploration program.
The first mission, Freedom 7, was flown by Astronaut,
alan Shepard, Jr., which launched him into the atmosphere of the Earth;
never actually raching the orbit of the Earth and the flight only lasted
15 minutes. Then Project Mercury ended
its success with Faith 7, Astronaut, L. Gordon Cooper,
Jr., orbited around the Earth for more than a day. Below is a chart
of the six missions launched as part of Project Mercury. (Click on the
flight number for the highlights of each mission, provided by NASA at www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury.html
):
|
Flight, Rocket Type
|
Capsule |
Astronaut |
Date |
Duration |
| MR-3,
Redstone |
Freedom 7 |
Alan B. Shepard, Jr. |
May 5, 1961 |
15 minutes |
| MR-4,
Redstone |
Liberty Bell 7 |
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom |
July 21, 1961 |
16 minutes |
| MA-6,
Atlas |
Friendship 7 |
John H. Glenn, Jr. |
February 20, 1962 |
4 hours, 55 minutes |
| MA-7,
Atlas |
Aurora 7 |
M. Scott Carpenter |
May 24, 1962 |
4 hours, 56 minutes |
| MA-8,
Atlas |
Sigma 7 |
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. |
October 3, 1962 |
9 hours, 13 minutes |
| MA-9,
Atlas |
Faith 7 |
L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. |
May 15-16, 1963 |
34 hours, 19 minutes |
Things you should notice about the six manned
missions:
-
Two of the missions used the Redstone
Rocket, and the other four used the Atlas Rocket.
-
The astronauts were allowed to name their own
capsules, and the number 7 is common to all six capsule names, this is
because there were seven astronauts and they wanted to show their teamwork.
-
Each flight increased in duration, showing advancements
in space exploration.
-
The flight names, such as MR-3, refers to M-
Mercury, R or A- Redstone Rocket or Atlas Rocket, and the flight designated
number.
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