Project Mercury Memorial

Project Mercury, initiated in 1958 and completed in 1963, was the United States’ first man-in-space program. More than 2,000,000 people from many government agencies and aerospace corporations combined their skills and experience in a national effort whose objectives were to orbit a manned spacecraft around the earth, investigate man’s ability to function in space, and recover both man and spacecraft safely. The program made six manned flights and 20 unmanned flights from 1961 to 1963. Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., born in East Derry, New Hampshire, on Nov. 18, 1923, became the first American in space on May 5, 1961, in the suborbital Freedom 7 flight aboard Mercury-Redstone 1, lasting 15 minutes, 28 seconds. Virgil I. Grissom, born in Mitchell, Indiana, on April 3, 1926, became the second American in space on July 21, 1961, in the suborbital Liberty Bell 7 flight aboard Mercury-Redstone 4, lasting 15 minutes, 37 seconds. John Herschel Glenn, born in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 18, 1921, became the first American to orbit the earth on Feb. 20, 1962, making 3 orbits in Friendship 7 aboard Mercury-Atlas6 in 4 hours 55 minutes. Malcolm Scott Carpenter, born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, became the second American to orbit the earth on May 24, 1962, making 3 orbits in Aurora 7 aboard Mercury-Atlas7 in 4 hours 56 minutes. Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., born in Hackensack, New Jersey, on Mar. 12, 1923, flew Sigma 7 aboard Mercury-Atlas 8 on Oct. 3, 1962, completing 6 orbits in 9 hours 13 minutes.

Titusville, Florida · United States