Mercury

Flight Details

Mercury 3 (Freedom 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/03/61
• Flight Time: 000d 00h 15m
• Number of Orbits: Sub-orbital

Astronaut Crew:

• Alan B. Shephard, Jr.

EVAs:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: Shephard became the first American in space. However, his flight was not an orbital mission, but a sub-orbital test. He was launched by a Redstone rocket and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean just 15 minutes later. He was recovered by the carrier USS Lake Champlain.

Mercury 4 (Liberty Bell 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 07/21/61
• Flight Time: 000d 00h 16m
• Number of Orbits: Sub-orbital

Astronaut Crew:

• Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: Grissom's flight was an exact repeat of Shephard's. The short sub-orbital mission ended in the Atlantic. However, the Mercury spacecraft became filled with water when the hatch blew off, and sank before the recovery helicopters from the carrier USS Randolph could lift it to safety. Grissom almost drowned when his spacesuit also became filled with water.

Mercury 6 (Friendship 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 02/20/62
• Flight Time: 000d 04h 55m
• Number of Orbits: 0003 orbits

Astronaut Crew:

• John H. Glenn, Jr.

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: The United States finally placed a man into orbit with Glenn's flight. Although his flight lasted less time than the mission of Vostok 2, Glenn was able to control his spacecraft and turn it about the three axes. During Glenn's reentry, there was the fear that the Mercury's heat shield had come loose, but this proved to be a false alarm. Glenn was recovered from the Atlantic by the destroyer USS Noa.

Mercury 7 (Aurora 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/24/62
• Flight Time: 000d 04h 56m
• Number of Orbits: 0003 orbits

Astronaut Crew:

• M. Scott Carpenter

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: Carpenter's mission was a repeat of Glenn's. However, a malfunction in the automatic retro-fire sequencer required Carpenter to perform a manual reentry maneuver. He overshot the landing zone by about 125 miles, and was finally recovered by the carrier USS Intrepid almost 3 hours after splashdown in the Atlantic.

Mercury 8 (Sigma 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 10/03/62
• Flight Time: 000d 09h13_m
• Number of Orbits: 0006 orbits

Astronaut Crew:

• Walter M. Schirra, Jr.

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: In an effort to conserve fuel after the problems of Mercury 7 (Aurora 7), Schirra allowed his Mercury spacecraft to drift while in orbit. After completing an almost flawless 6 orbit mission, he was recovered from the Pacific by the carrier USS Kearsarge.

Mercury 9 (Faith 7)

Mission Statistics:

• Date: 05/15/63
• Flight Time: 001d 10h 20m
• Number of Orbits: 0022 orbits

Astronaut Crew:

• L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.

EVA's:

• None

Payloads:

• None

Mission Highlights: This was the last and longest Mercury mission. Cooper stayed in orbit almost 1 1/2 days, completing 22 orbits of the Earth. As on Mercury 7 (Aurora 7), the automatic reentry system failed, but Cooper guided the Mercury spacecraft manually to within 5 miles of the recovery carrier USS Kearsarge in the Pacific.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003