The Mercury Seven
The Mercury Seven were the original seven astronauts designated to fly in Project Mercury. They were M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter "Wally" Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald "Deke" Slayton. Selected for their performance in the Air Force, several of these pioneer astronauts (including Wally Schirra) flew in all NASA rocket spacecraft - from Mercury to Gemini to Apollo.
The successful mission of Apollo 11 could not have been conducted without their efforts, for which one (Gus Grissom) gave his life in the Apollo 1 tragedy, alongside fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
Mercury Missions
Project Mercury Designation | Mission | Mission Date | Notes/Pilot name |
Mercury-Jupiter | Test of Jupiter missile. | Cancelled | |
Little Joe 1 | Test of launch escape system during flight. | August 21, 1959 | |
Big Joe 1 | Test of heat shield and Atlas rocket. | September 9, 1959 | |
Little Joe 6 | Test of Mercury capsule aerodynamics and stability. | October 4, 1959 | |
Little Joe 1A | Second test of launch escape system during flight. | November 4, 1959 | |
Little Joe 2 | Carried a monkey 52.8 miles in altitude. | December 4, 1959 | |
Little Joe 1B | Carried a monkey 9.3 miles in altitude | January 21, 1960 | |
Beach Abort | Test of the Off-The-Pad abort system. | May 9, 1960 | |
Mercury-Atlas 1 | First test flight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas rocket. | July 29, 1960 | |
Little Joe 5 | First flight of a standard Mercury capsule. | November 8, 1960 | |
Mercury-Redstone 1 | First test flight of Mercury spacecraft and Redstone rocket. (Failure) | November 21, 1960 | The "Popped Cork" Incident |
Mercury-Redstone 1A | First test flight of Mercury spacecraft and Redstone rocket. | December 19, 1960 | |
Mercury-Redstone 2 | Carried a chimpanzee 129.8 miles in altitude. | January 31, 1961 | |
Mercury-Atlas 2 | Second test flight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas rocket. | February 21, 1961 | |
Little Joe 5A | Third test of the launch escape system. | March 18, 1961 | |
Mercury-Redstone BD | Redstone rocket upgrade test flight. | March 24, 1961 | |
Mercury-Atlas 3 | Third test flight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas rocket. | April 25, 1961 | |
Little Joe 5B | Fourth test of the launch escape system. | April 28, 1961 | |
Mercury-Atlas 4 | First orbital spaceflight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas rocket. | September 13, 1961 | |
Mercury-Scout 1 | Test of Mercury tracking network. (Failure) | November 1, 1961 | |
Mercury-Redstone 3 | Carried first American to make a suborbital flight into space. | May 5, 1961 | Alan Shepard |
Mercury-Redstone 4 | Carried second American to make a suborbital flight into space. | July 21, 1961 | Virgil I. Grissom |
Mercury-Atlas 6 | Carried first American to orbit the Earth. | February 20, 1962 | John Glenn |
Mercury-Atlas 7 | Manned spaceflight-3 orbits. | May 24, 1962 | Scott Carpenter |
Mercury-Atlas 8 | Manned spaceflight-6 orbits. | October 3, 1962 | Walter Schirra |
Mercury Atlas 9 | Carried first American in space for over a day and last American to fly alone in Earth orbit. | May 15-May 16, 1963 | Gordon Cooper |
Mercury 10 | 3 day manned spaceflight mission. | Cancelled |
Donald K. Slayton did not fly a Mercury mission. The flight surgeons grounded him for nearly a decade and a half after finding that he suffered from an occasional dysrhythmia of the heart. The other six astronauts then recommended to NASA administration that the astronaut corps should have a permanent chief, chosen among their number, and chose Slayton to fill that position. Slayton was the only chief that the astronaut corps ever had. He would finally fly the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission in 1975, the last mission flown with Project Apollo hardware.