Mercury Program

Manned Mercury Missions:

1961

Mercury MR-3: Alan Shepard/Freedom 7
First U.S. Astronaut (Suborbital)

Mercury MR-4: Gus Grissom/Liberty Bell 7
Second U.S. Astronaut (Suborbital)

1962

Mercury MA-6: John Glenn/Friendship 7
First U.S. Astronaut To Orbit Earth

Mercury MA-7: Scott Carpenter/Aurora 7
Second U.S. Astronaut To Orbit Earth

Mercury MA-8: Wally Schirra/Sigma 7
Third U.S. Astronaut To Orbit Earth

1963

Mercury MA-9: Gordon Cooper/Faith 7
Fourth U.S. Astronaut To Orbit Earth

Other Resources:

This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury (Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-4201, 1966, reprinted 1999) By Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, and Charles C. Alexander. This New Ocean explores the people and the technology that made Project Mercury possible. It is a comprehensive and worthwhile read of America's first human spaceflight program.

Space Medicine in Project Mercury (NASA SP-4003) By Mae Mills Link, was published in 1965. This book covers some important early life sciences and biomedical research that NASA conducted in the early 1960s.

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