2. Project Mercury Overview. Project Mercury was started on October, 7, 1958, and it’s primary goal was to get a man in space and to get him back safely (and maybe beat Russia to space). The project lasted five years and NASA achieved it’s primary goals(but we didn’t beat Russia.
3. Unmanned missions Before sending man up into space NASA made sure that the rockets would get the astronauts out of earths orbit. They also sent animals and fungi out before man to make sure that man could function in space.
4. FREEDOM 7 On May 5, 1961 Alan B. Shepard, Jr., was the first American man in space. His mission was to see how well a man could function in space.
5. LIBERTY BELL 7 Virgil I. Grissom was the man on the fourth space flight and his mission was to complete another suborbital of the earth. A problem occurred with the door to the space pod where the astronaut almost drown.
6. FAITH 7 The longest mission in the mercury missions, and the goal was to have L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. to stay as long as possible in zero gravity as possible. He lasted 34 hours, 3 minutes, 30 seconds weightless, then he had to come back.
