The United States' first manned space flight project was successfully accomplished in a 4 2/3 year period of dynamic activity which saw more than 2,000,000 people from many major government agencies and much of the aerospace industry combine their skills, initiative, and experience into a national effort. In this period, six manned space flights were accomplished as part of a 25-flight program. These manned space flights were accomplished with complete pilot safety and without change to the basic Mercury concepts. It was shown that man can function ably as a pilot-engineer-experimenter without undesirable reactions or deteriorations of normal body functions for periods up to 34 hours of weightless flight. Directing this large and fast moving project required the development of a management structure and operating mode that satisfied the requirement to mold the many different entities into a workable structure. The management methods and techniques so developed are discussed. Other facets of the Mercury experience such as techniques and philosophies developed to insure well-trained flight and ground crews and correctly prepared space vehicles are discussed. Also, those technical areas of general application to aerospace activities that presented obstacles to the accomplishment of the project are briefly discussed. Emphasis is placed on the need for improved detail design guidelines and philosophy, complete and appropriate hardware qualification programs, more rigorous standards, accurate and detailed test procedures, and more responsive configuration control techniques.
Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963, Project Mercury was the United States' first man-in-space program. The objectives of the program, which made six manned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific:
- To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth
- To investigate man's ability to function in space
- To recover both man and spacecraft safely
Original objective documents PDF
Significant flights
Freedom 7
Alan Shepard was chosen for the first manned Mercury launch, becoming the first American to fly in space on May 5, 1961. His Freedom 7 capsule launched from Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral aboard a Redstone rocket. The capsule reached an altitude of 116 miles during his suborbital flight and splashed down 304 miles out into the Atlantic. The flight lasted just over 15 minutes. Mission objective: The main scientific objective of project Mercury was to determine man's capabilities in a space environment and in those environments to which he will be subject upon going into and returning from space. A few of the basic flight problems included: The development of an automatic escape system, vehicle control during insertion, behaviour of space systems, evaluation of pilots capabilities in space, in flight monitoring, retrofire and reentry manoeuvres and landing and recovery.
Friendship 7
John H. Glenn, JR became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962. He was in orbit for 88 minutes, 29 seconds and orbited the Earth 3 times before landing safely in the Pacific ocean. Mission objectives: Place a man into earth orbit, observe his reactions to the space environment and safely return him to earth to a point where he could be readily found. The Mercury flight plan during the first orbit was to maintain optimum spacecraft attitude for radar tracking and communication checks.
Friendship 7
John H. Glenn, JR became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962. He was in orbit for 88 minutes, 29 seconds and orbited the Earth 3 times before landing safely in the Pacific ocean. Mission objectives: Place a man into earth orbit, observe his reactions to the space environment and safely return him to earth to a point where he could be readily found. The Mercury flight plan during the first orbit was to maintain optimum spacecraft attitude for radar tracking and communication checks.