Project Mercury was NASA's program that launched the first American astronauts into space, completing a total of six crewed spaceflights.

Project Mercury was NASA’s very first human spaceflight program which operated from 1958 to 1963, having a total of 26—six crewed and 20 uncrewed—flights to space. While we lost the race to space when ...

Chimpanzee 65—later named Ham on his safe return from space, a strategy to avoid the chimps bonding too much with their handlers—is launched on Mercury-Redstone 2, January 31st, 1961.

A NASA Project Mercury spacecraft was launched on April 25, 1961 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in a test designed to qualify the spacecraft and all systems, which must function during orbit and ...

Related: Project Mercury: America's 1st crewed space program 500 years. Encased in the monument's concrete base is a time capsule containing technical reports, photos, recordings and other ...

The original Mercury space capsule had no window, a hatch with 70 bolts that had to be removed from outside, and zilch for the astronaut to do except endure g-forces, hope nothing went wrong, and ...

The 1/3 scale model of the Mercury Capsule is completely equipped with escape tower, retro-rockets, interior fittings, and a model of an astronaut. The display was built and given to the Museum by the ...