Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury . The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely.
He became a naval aviator in 1947, and a test pilot in 1950. He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made the first crewed Project Mercury flight, Mercury-Redstone 3, in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7. His craft entered space, but was not capable of achieving orbit. He became the second ...
The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American crewed space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–1961; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space.
Mercury-Redstone 3, Shepard's 15 minute and 28 second flight of the Freedom 7 capsule demonstrated the ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry. Shepard later went on to fly in the Apollo program and became the only Mercury astronaut to walk on the Moon on Apollo 14. [139] [140]
Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida used for various Redstone and Jupiter launches.. It is most well known as the launch site for NASA's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, which made Alan Shepard the first American in space.
Mercury-Redstone 3 : First American crewed spaceflight. Did not reach Earth orbit, maximum altitude: 187 km (116 miles). [1] [2] 3 Gus Grissom (1) 21 July 1961 Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) Second American crewed spaceflight. Did not reach Earth orbit, maximum altitude: 190 km (118.26 mi). 4 Gherman Titov: 6 August 1961 Vostok 2: 7 August ...
Ham, a chimpanzee astronaut that flew aboard the Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft, is greeted by Commander Ralph A. Brackett on the USS Donner after being recovered after a flight Jan. 31, 1961 at sea.
This is an alphabetical list of astronauts, ... Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (1926–1967) † — Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3. Died in the Apollo 1 fire accident.