Jonathan Kurz
Mrs. Kent
English
America’s Project Mercury Project Mercury was America’s first space program, and it inspired many Americans. Project Mercury began in 1958 and ended in 1962 (Sipiera 11). Project Mercury was started by NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (McNeese). The capsules used in the manned flights had barely enough room to fit one person in it (42). The first American astronaut in space was Commander Alan B. Shepard of the United States Navy, and he rode the Mercury-Redstone 3 into sub orbit on May 5, 1961 (Spangeburg and Moser 52). Alan Shepard was the first Human being ever to have complete control over his own space shuttle (Spangeburg and Moser 68). Allen Shepard’s mission took him 116 miles above …show more content…
All of the unmanned missions were flown manually from earth. The two apes Ham and Enos set the stage for Project Mercury (Sipiera 12). A monkey named Ham was the first mercury astronaut, and his mission was to see if the rockets and the capsules were safe enough to send humans into space. Ham was sent into space on December 19, 1960 on a Redstone rocket, and his mission only lasted 18 minutes. Enos and Ham were both trained at an Air Force base located in New Mexico (Brady …show more content…
NASA selected 110 military pilots to be astronauts and then chose seven of those pilots who later became known as the Mercury Seven (Spangeburg and Moser 28). The Mercury Seven are the following: Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., John Herschel Glenn Jr., Virgil Ivan Grissom, Walter Marty Schirra Jr., Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., and Donald Kent Slayton (Sipiera 22). There was only one of the Mercury Seven who never was able to fly into space during Project Mercury because of a heart murmur, and he was Deke Slayton (McNeese 11). The heart murmur did not stop him, and later he became NASA's Flight Crew Operations director for around ten years; when he was fifty-one, he became the oldest man to fly in space at that time (Cahalan
Mrs. Kent
English
America’s Project Mercury Project Mercury was America’s first space program, and it inspired many Americans. Project Mercury began in 1958 and ended in 1962 (Sipiera 11). Project Mercury was started by NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (McNeese). The capsules used in the manned flights had barely enough room to fit one person in it (42). The first American astronaut in space was Commander Alan B. Shepard of the United States Navy, and he rode the Mercury-Redstone 3 into sub orbit on May 5, 1961 (Spangeburg and Moser 52). Alan Shepard was the first Human being ever to have complete control over his own space shuttle (Spangeburg and Moser 68). Allen Shepard’s mission took him 116 miles above …show more content…
All of the unmanned missions were flown manually from earth. The two apes Ham and Enos set the stage for Project Mercury (Sipiera 12). A monkey named Ham was the first mercury astronaut, and his mission was to see if the rockets and the capsules were safe enough to send humans into space. Ham was sent into space on December 19, 1960 on a Redstone rocket, and his mission only lasted 18 minutes. Enos and Ham were both trained at an Air Force base located in New Mexico (Brady …show more content…
NASA selected 110 military pilots to be astronauts and then chose seven of those pilots who later became known as the Mercury Seven (Spangeburg and Moser 28). The Mercury Seven are the following: Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., John Herschel Glenn Jr., Virgil Ivan Grissom, Walter Marty Schirra Jr., Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., and Donald Kent Slayton (Sipiera 22). There was only one of the Mercury Seven who never was able to fly into space during Project Mercury because of a heart murmur, and he was Deke Slayton (McNeese 11). The heart murmur did not stop him, and later he became NASA's Flight Crew Operations director for around ten years; when he was fifty-one, he became the oldest man to fly in space at that time (Cahalan