Mercury Programme

Project Mercury (1958–1963) was the United States' first human spaceflight programme. Its objectives were straightforward but revolutionary: orbit a crewed spacecraft around Earth, investigate a human's ability to function in space, and recover both astronaut and spacecraft safely.

The programme selected seven military test pilots — the "Mercury Seven" — who became America's first astronauts and instant national heroes: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard Freedom 7, a 15-minute suborbital flight. On 20 February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7, completing three orbits in just under five hours.

The Mercury spacecraft was a single-seat capsule just 1.9 metres in diameter — so small that astronauts joked they didn't climb in, they put it on. Despite its size, it proved that humans could tolerate launch, weightlessness, and re-entry, and could perform useful tasks in orbit. The programme completed six crewed flights, culminating in Gordon Cooper's 34-hour, 22-orbit mission aboard Faith 7 in May 1963.