Mercury - Atlas D

The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile was the largest available rocket for the Mercury program, which was designed to put a human into orbit at the earliest possible date. Its relatively small payload dictated cramped quarters for the Mercury capsule. Unlike most liquid propellant rockets, Atlas was not a hollow tube with interior tanks; the outside was the tank, making it literally a flying tank with engines. It had two stages, with the outer engines dropping off in flight while the center engine and tank structure continued into orbit. Its total weight was 260,000 pounds, it could carry 3,000 pounds to orbit, and it used kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants. On February 20, 1962, Friendship 7 launched atop an Atlas rocket with John Glenn inside, and he was about to become the first American to orbit the Earth.

New York, New York · United States