Mercury program

E11114
NASA program human spaceflight program

The Mercury program was the United States' first human spaceflight initiative, designed to send American astronauts into space and orbit Earth during the early 1960s.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Project Mercury 4
United States human spaceflight program 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf NASA program ⓘ
human spaceflight program ⓘ
astronaut Alan Shepard ⓘ
Deke Slayton ⓘ
Gordon Cooper ⓘ
Gus Grissom ⓘ
John Glenn ⓘ
Scott Carpenter ⓘ
Wally Schirra ⓘ
context Cold War ⓘ
competition with Soviet space program ⓘ
country United States of America ⓘ
surface form: United States
crewSizePerMission 1 ⓘ
endDate 1963-06-12 ⓘ
firstAmericanInOrbit John Glenn ⓘ
firstCrewedFlight Mercury-Redstone 3 ⓘ
firstHumanInSpaceForUSA Alan Shepard ⓘ
firstOrbitalFlightDate 1962-02-20 ⓘ
firstSuborbitalFlightDate 1961-05-05 ⓘ
followedBy Apollo program ⓘ
Gemini program ⓘ
lastCrewedFlight Mercury-Atlas 9 ⓘ
launchSite Cape Canaveral ⓘ
surface form: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Kennedy Space Center ⓘ
launchVehicle SM-65 Atlas ⓘ
surface form: Atlas rocket

Redstone rocket ⓘ
namedAfter Hermes ⓘ
surface form: Roman god Mercury
notableMission Mercury-Atlas 6 ⓘ
Mercury-Atlas 7 ⓘ
Mercury-Atlas 8 ⓘ
Mercury-Atlas 9 ⓘ
Mercury-Redstone 3 ⓘ
Mercury-Redstone 4 ⓘ
numberOfCrewedFlights 6 ⓘ
numberOfUncrewedFlights 20 ⓘ
operator NASA ⓘ
partOf Space Race ⓘ
precededBy no earlier U.S. human spaceflight program ⓘ
primaryGoal put a human in orbit around Earth ⓘ
secondaryGoal investigate human ability to function in space ⓘ
recover spacecraft and crew safely ⓘ
selectedAstronautGroup Mercury Seven ⓘ
significantOutcome demonstrated human spaceflight capability for the United States ⓘ
provided biomedical data on humans in space ⓘ
validated orbital reentry and recovery techniques ⓘ
spacecraftType Mercury spacecraft ⓘ
startDate 1958-10-07 ⓘ
status completed ⓘ
timePeriod early 1960s ⓘ

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Apollo astronauts → associatedWith → Mercury program ⓘ
this entity surface form: Project Mercury
Rocket Park → associatedWithProgram → Mercury program ⓘ
The Right Stuff → mainSubject → Mercury program ⓘ
this entity surface form: Project Mercury
NASA → notableProgram → Mercury program ⓘ
Apollo program → precededBy → Mercury program ⓘ
this entity surface form: Project Mercury
Gemini program → precededBy → Mercury program ⓘ
this entity surface form: Project Mercury
Space Race → significantEvent → Mercury program ⓘ
SM-65 Atlas → usedAsLaunchVehicleFor → Mercury program ⓘ
this entity surface form: United States human spaceflight program
Atlas → usedInProgram → Mercury program ⓘ