Project Mercury Memorial

Project Mercury Memorial. Space View Park. , Mercury Project , Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963. Project Mercury was United States’ first man-in-space program. Over 2,000,000 people from many government agencies and aerospace corporations combining their skills and experiences into the national effort., These objectives of the program, which made six manned flights and 20 unmanned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific:, . To orbit a manned spacecraft around the earth; , . To investigate man’s ability to function in space; , . To recover both man and spacecraft safely. , Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. , First American In Space , Born: East Derry, NH, Nov. 18, 1923 , Mercury Flight - May 5, 1961 15 Minutes, 28 seconds - Suborbital Flight , Launch Vehicle – Mercury-Redstone 1 Spacecraft – Freedom 7, Virgil I. Grissom , Second American In Space , Born: Mitchell, In, April 3, 1926 , Mercury Flight - July 21, 1961 15 Minutes, 37 seconds - Suborbital Flight , Launch Vehicle – Mercury-Redstone 4 Spacecraft – Liberty Bell 7, r , John Herschel Glenn , First American to orbit the earth , Born: Cambridge, OH July 18, 1921 , Mercury Flight - Feb 20,1962 4 Hours 55 Minutes – 3 Orbits , Launch Vehicle – Mercury-Atlas6 Spacecraft – Friendship 7, , Malcom Scott Carpenter , Second American to orbit the earth , Born: Boulder, CO May 1, 1925 , Mercury Flight-May 24, 1962 4 Hours 56 Minutes – 3 Orbits , Launch Vehicle – Mercury-Atlas7 Spacecraft – Aurora 7, Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. , Born: Hackensack, NJ Mar 12, 1923 , Mercury Flight – Oct. 3, 1962, 9 Hours 13 Minutes -6 Orbits , Launch Vehicle – Mercury–Atlas 8 Spacecraft-Sigma 7. , Dedication plaque , This exhibit is dedicated as a permanent tribute to all the men and women of the Project Mercury Team whose extraordinary efforts successfully launched America’s Manned Space Flight Program. , Dedicated this 12th Day of May 1996 by the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation