Mercury program
Early American spaceflight
The Mercury program was NASA's first human spaceflight initiative, running from 1958 to 1963.
It placed the first Americans in orbit and demonstrated that humans could function in space.
The program's seven astronauts—the Mercury Seven—became national heroes during the early Space Race with the Soviet Union.
John Glenn's Mercury flight made him a celebrity overnight.
- NASAFederal space exploration bureau
- manned spaceflightHuman space travel
- astronautSpacecraft crew member
- right stuffRequisite abilities and character
- capsuleEnclosed dose container
space capsule · spacecraft · John Glenn · orbit · launch · rocket · lift off · space race · cold war · Atlas · Redstone · suborbital · splashdown · heat shield · mission control · Cape Canaveral · Gemini · Apollo
- Space HistoryApollo 11, moon landing, Sputnik, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin
- spaceflightlaunch, astronaut, spacecraft, liftoff, orbit
- rocketryrocket, rockets, rocket fuel, rocket engine, rocket engines
- Aviation HistoryWright Brothers, Wright Flyer, Wright brothers, Kitty Hawk, first flight
- Aviation milestonesfirst flight, Wright brothers, sound barrier, Concorde, SR-71
Mercury programApollo program
US moonshot initiative
Gemini program · Apollo 11 · International Space Station · Skylab · Apollo 17
Mercury programApollo program
US moonshot initiative
Mars colonization · interstellar travel · deep space exploration · lunar base · Voyager program
Mercury, program, mercury, mercurial, programs, programming, programmed, programmer, programmable