The Mercury 7
On April 9, 1959 NASA introduced the first group of astronauts who would be reaching for the stars: the Mercury 7.
As part of our celebration of Apollo 14’s 50th Anniversary, we’re posting information on Alan Shepard, the Apollo Program, and NASA.
The Mercury 7: starting from the left, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Gordon Cooper and Scott Carpenter. Image courtesy of NASA.
Project Mercury was NASA’s program to safely launch a manned spacecraft into orbit around Earth and then safely recover the astronaut and craft, an important step in US space technology and eventually journeying beyond our atmosphere. The seven men, Malcolm S. Carpenter, Leroy G. Cooper, John H. Glenn, Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard, and Donald K. Slayton, were all military test pilots whose prior experiences and training made them well-suited for this new adventure.
Over the course of less than 5 years, NASA ran multiple uncrewed missions and then six crewed missions, the first of which was Alan Shepard’s historic launch in 1961 aboard Freedom 7 as the first American in space. Lasting 15 minutes, 28 seconds Shepard’s flight proved that the US had the technology and resources to put a man in space. The following year John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7, the third crewed mission. In 1963 for the final crewed mission, Gordon Cooper orbited Earth 22 times to investigate how a day in space impacted human beings.
Having met its mission, Project Mercury ended in 1963 and the next steps toward a human presence on the Moon were undertaken by the Gemini Program.
