Project Mercury

Project Mercury: First Human Spaceflight Program

Learn about Project Mercury, the pioneering space program of the United States that achieved the first human spaceflight from 1958 to 1963.

What is Project Mercury?

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It was run by NASA between 1958 and 1963 with the goal of putting a human into orbit around the Earth. It originated as part of the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The program involved launching a single-person spacecraft atop various launch vehicles, including Redstone and Atlas rockets. It successfully launched six crewed flights which were piloted by the Mercury Seven astronauts - Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton. These pioneering astronauts helped NASA understand how the human body responds to the rigors of spaceflight and weightlessness.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space on a 15-minute suborbital flight. On Feb 20, 1962, John Glenn completed the first human orbital flight, making three orbits during nearly 5 hours in space. Project Mercury successfully proved humans could function in the microgravity and harsh conditions of space, paving the way for the more ambitious Gemini and Apollo programs.

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