Mercury-Redstone: Putting the First Americans in Space

Mercury capsules were small, one-man spacecraft, and the Mercury-Redstone rocket was designed to propel these capsules and the first American astronauts into space during Project Mercury. The Mercury-Redstone rocket launched six suborbital Mercury flights from 1960 to 1961, including two unmanned tests and one flight carrying Ham the chimpanzee. Two Mercury-Redstone flights made history by taking the first and second Americans into space. Alan Shepard, the first American in space, flew in his Mercury Freedom 7 capsule. NASA's first two manned flights were suborbital, while orbital flights were launched by the Mercury-Atlas rocket. The Mercury Faith 7 capsule, which flew 22 orbits around Earth in 1963, is on display at Space Center Houston. The two astronauts launched into space on Mercury-Redstone rockets were Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961, and Gus Grissom on July 21, 1961.

Houston, Texas · United States