Editing Project Mercury (section)

===Crewed===

All of the six crewed Mercury flights were successful, though some planned flights were canceled during the project (see below).{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=640–641}} The main medical problems encountered were simple personal [[hygiene]], and post-flight [[orthostatic hypotension|symptoms of low blood pressure]].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=508}} The launch vehicles had been tested through uncrewed flights, therefore the numbering of crewed missions did not start with 1.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=638–641}} Also, there were two separately numbered series: MR for "Mercury-Redstone" (suborbital flights), and MA for "Mercury-Atlas" (orbital flights). These names were not popularly used, since the astronauts followed a pilot tradition, each giving their spacecraft a name. They selected names ending with a "7" to commemorate the seven astronauts.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=132}}{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=640}} Spacecraft production numbers don't match the mission order, with some capsules being reserved as backup or used in tests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Project Mercury - A Chronology. Appendix 6 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/app6.htm |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> Times given are [[UTC|Coordinated Universal Time]], local time + 5 hours. MA = Mercury-Atlas, MR = Mercury-Redstone, LC = Launch Complex.{{refn |Alexander & al., 1966, pp. 638–641. | group = n }}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! rowspan=2| Mission
! rowspan="2" |Spacecraft No.
! rowspan="2" | Call-sign
! rowspan=2| Pilot
! colspan=2 class="unsortable"| Launch 
! rowspan=2| Duration
! rowspan=2| Orbits
! rowspan=2| Apogee<br />mi (km)
! rowspan=2| Perigee<br />mi (km)
! rowspan=2| Max. velocity <br />mph (km/h)
! rowspan=2| Miss<br />mi (km)
|-
! time||site
|-
| [[Mercury-Redstone 3|MR-3]]
|7
| ''Freedom 7''
| [[Alan Shepard|Shepard]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="1"|14:34 on May 5, 1961
| style="text-align:left;" |[[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5|LC-5]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="1"|15 m 22 s
| style="text-align:right;"  |0
| style="text-align:right;"  |117 (188)
| style="text-align:center;" | —
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="6" | {{convert|5134|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="1"| 3.5 (5.6)
|-
| [[Mercury-Redstone 4|MR-4]]
|11
| ''Liberty Bell 7''
| [[Gus Grissom|Grissom]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="2"|12:20 on Jul. 21, 1961
| style="text-align:left;" |LC-5
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="2"|15 m 37 s
| style="text-align:right;" |0
| style="text-align:right;" |118 (190)
| style="text-align:center;" |—
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="5"|{{convert|5168|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="4"| 5.8 (9.3)
|-
| [[Mercury-Atlas 6|MA-6]]
|13
| ''Friendship 7''
| [[John Glenn|Glenn]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="3"|14:47 on Feb. 20, 1962
| style="text-align:left;" |[[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14|LC-14]]
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="3"|4 h 55 m 23 s
| style="text-align:right;" |3
| style="text-align:right;" |162 (261)
| style="text-align:right;" |100 (161)
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="4"|{{convert|17544|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="5"| 46 (74)
|-
| [[Mercury-Atlas 7|MA-7]]
|18
| ''Aurora 7''
| [[Scott Carpenter|Carpenter]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="4"|12:45 on May 24, 1962
| style="text-align:left;" |LC-14
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="4"|4 h 56 m 5 s
| style="text-align:right;" |3
| style="text-align:right;" |167 (269)
| style="text-align:right;" |100 (161)
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="2"|{{convert|17549|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="6"| 248 (400)
|-
| [[Mercury-Atlas 8|MA-8]]
|16
| ''Sigma 7''
| [[Wally Schirra|Schirra]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="5"|12:15 on Oct. 3, 1962
| style="text-align:left;" |LC-14
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="5"|9 h 13 m 15 s
| style="text-align:right;" |6
| style="text-align:right;" |176 (283)
| style="text-align:right;" |100 (161)
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="1"|{{convert|17558|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="2"| 4.6 (7.4)
|-
| [[Mercury-Atlas 9|MA-9]]
|20
| ''Faith 7''
| [[Gordon Cooper|Cooper]]
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="6"|13:04 on May 15, 1963
| style="text-align:left;" |LC-14
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="6"|1 d 10 h 19 m 49 s
| style="text-align:right;" | 22
| style="text-align:right;" | 166 (267)
| style="text-align:right;" | 100 (161)
| style="text-align:right;"  data-sort-value="3"|{{convert|17547|mph|abbr=values}}
| style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="3"| 5.0 (8.1)
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
!colspan="2" | Remarks
|-
| {{Nowrap|Mercury-Redstone 3}}|| First American in space.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=341}} Recovered by [[aircraft carrier|carrier]] [[USS Lake Champlain (CV-39)|USS ''Lake Champlain'']].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=357}}
|-
| Mercury-Redstone 4|| Spacecraft sank during recovery when hatch unexpectedly blew off.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=373}}{{refn |It was recovered in 1999.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|pp=402–405}}| group = n }} Astronaut recovered by carrier [[USS Randolph (CV-15)|USS ''Randolph'']].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=375}}
|-
| Mercury-Atlas 6|| First American in orbit.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=422}} Retropack retained during reentry.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=432}}{{refn|group=n|Launch of ''Friendship 7'' was postponed repeatedly during two months; a frustrated politician compared the spacecraft-Atlas combination to "a [[Rube Goldberg machine|Rube Goldberg device]] on top of a plumber's nightmare".{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=409, 411}}}} Recovered by [[destroyer]] [[USS Noa (DD-841)|USS ''Noa'']].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=433}}
|-
| Mercury-Atlas 7|| Carpenter replaced Deke Slayton.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=440}}{{refn|group=n|Carpenter's overshoot of the landing site was caused by a malfunction in the automatic stabilization, which meant that retrofire was out of line with the movement of the spacecraft{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=453-454}}}} Recovered by [[destroyer]] [[USS Farragut (DDG-37)|USS ''Farragut'']].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=456}} Biggest miss.{{refn|During Carpenter's mission a seaplane from the US Air Force got to the landing site about 1½ hour ahead of the Navy ships and offered to pick him up.  This, however, was declined by the admiral in charge of Mercury recovery operations, which led to a Senate hearing about the incident.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=457}}|group=n}}
|-
| Mercury-Atlas 8|| The flight closest to plan.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=484}} Carried out maneuvering tests.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=476}} Recovered by carrier [[USS Kearsarge (CV-33)|USS ''Kearsarge'']].{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=483}}
|-
| Mercury-Atlas 9|| First American in space for over a day.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=487}} Last American solo mission.{{refn|group=n|Likely to be so according to Alexander & al.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=506}}}} Recovered by USS ''Kearsarge''.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|p=501}}
|-
| Recovery variations|| MA6) spacecraft and astronaut hoist onboard directly; MA8) spacecraft and astronaut towed by boat to ship; MA9) spacecraft with astronaut inside flown to ship.{{sfn|Alexander & al.|1966|pp=353,375,433,457,483–484,501}}
|}
<gallery mode="packed">
Kennedy, Johnson, and others watching flight of Astronaut Shepard on television, 05 May 1961.png|Shepard's flight watched on TV in the [[White House]]. May 1961.
Astronaut_John_Glenn_being_Honored_-_GPN-2000-000607.jpg|John Glenn honored by the President. February 1962
USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) crew spells out 'Mercury 9' on the flight deck, 15 May 1963 (GPN-2000-001403).jpg|USS ''Kearsarge'' with crew spelling Mercury-9. May 1963.
</gallery>
{{Clear}}