Project Mercury was officially approved on October 7, 1958, and publicly announced on December 17. Originally … See more

The Mercury spacecraft's principal designer was Maxime Faget, who started research for human spaceflight during the time of the NACA. It was 10.8 feet (3.3 m) long and 6.0 feet (1.8 m) wide; with the launch escape system add… See more

A 55-foot-long (17 m) launch vehicle called Little Joe was used for uncrewed tests of the launch escape system, using a Mercury capsule with an escape tower mounted on it. Its main purpose was to test the system at … See more

NASA announced the following seven astronauts – known as the Mercury Seven – on April 9, 1959:
Alan Shepard became the first American in space by making a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961. … See more

A Redstone rocket was used to boost the capsule for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to an altitude of 32 nautical miles (59 km); the capsule continued ascending on a ballistic curve after booster separation. The launch escape sys… See more

The number of personnel supporting a Mercury mission was typically around 18,000, with about 15,000 people associated with recovery. Most of the others followed the spacecraft from the World Wid… See more