Mercury spacecraft

The Mercury spacecraft was a single-seat American capsule designed to carry an astronaut into orbit and return by parachute. It was the crewed vehicle of Project Mercury, the United States’ first human spaceflight program.

Atlas LV-3B: A modified Atlas D missile used to launch astronauts on orbital Mercury missions. It supplied the thrust needed to place the spacecraft and astronaut into orbit.
Project Mercury: NASA’s first human spaceflight program, which flew six American astronauts into space from 1961 to 1963. The spacecraft was designed and flown specifically for this program.
Maxime Faget: A NASA engineer who helped design the Mercury spacecraft and later contributed to other American crewed vehicles. His capsule concepts helped establish Mercury’s blunt-body design.
Freedom 7: The Mercury spacecraft flown by Alan Shepard on the first American crewed spaceflight, in 1961. Its suborbital flight tested the capsule with a human aboard.
Vostok spacecraft: A Soviet crewed spacecraft used for the first human spaceflights, beginning in 1961. It was the Soviet counterpart to Mercury but carried its cosmonaut in a different capsule design.
Mercury launch escape system: A solid-fuel rocket system that pulled the Mercury capsule away from a failing launch vehicle. It could separate the capsule from an Atlas or Redstone during a launch emergency.
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics: The United States federal agency that conducted aeronautics research before NASA was established in 1958. Its engineers and facilities became part of NASA’s effort to develop the capsule.
McDonnell Aircraft: An American aircraft manufacturer that built the Mercury spacecraft for NASA. The company turned NASA’s specifications into flight-ready capsules.
Liberty Bell 7: The Mercury spacecraft flown by Gus Grissom on a 1961 suborbital flight. Its post-splashdown hatch incident exposed hazards during capsule recovery.
Gemini spacecraft: A two-seat American spacecraft used by NASA between Mercury and Apollo. It followed Mercury with room for two astronauts and support for longer missions.

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