Editing Space Race (section)

====Mercury====
{{Main|Project Mercury}}

[[File:Mercury Spacecraft.png|thumb|left|Cutaway of the Mercury capsule]]

The US Air Force had been developing a program to launch the first man in space, named [[Man in Space Soonest]]. This program studied several different types of one-man space vehicles, settling on a [[space capsule|ballistic re-entry capsule]] launched on a derivative [[Atlas LV-3B|Atlas missile]], and selecting a group of nine candidate pilots. After NASA's creation, the program was transferred over to the civilian agency's [[Space Task Group]] and renamed Project Mercury on November 26, 1958. The Mercury spacecraft was designed by the STG's chief engineer [[Maxime Faget]]. NASA selected a new group of [[astronaut]] (from the Greek for "star sailor") candidates from [[United States Navy|Navy]], [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] test pilots, and narrowed this down to [[Mercury Seven|a group of seven]] for the program. Capsule design and astronaut training began immediately, working toward preliminary suborbital flights on the [[Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle|Redstone missile]], followed by orbital flights on the Atlas. Each flight series would first start unpiloted, then carry a non-human primate, then finally humans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-10-01 |title=In the Beginning: Project Mercury - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/project-mercury/in-the-beginning-project-mercury/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Mercury spacecraft's principal designer was [[Maxime Faget]], who started research for human spaceflight during the time of the NACA.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=150}} It consisted of a conical capsule with a cylindrical pack of three solid-fuel [[retro-rocket]]s strapped over a [[beryllium]] or [[fiberglass]] [[heat shield]] on the blunt end. Base diameter at the blunt end was {{convert|6.0|ft}} and length was {{convert|10.8|ft}}; with the launch escape system added, the overall length was {{convert|25.9|ft}}.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=131}} With {{convert|100|ft3|m3}} of habitable volume, the capsule was just large enough for a single astronaut.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=47}} The first suborbital spacecraft weighed {{convert|3000|lb}}; the heaviest, Mercury-Atlas 9, weighed {{convert|3000|lb}} fully loaded.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=490}} On reentry, the astronaut would stay in the craft through splashdown by parachute in the Atlantic Ocean.

[[File:Alan Shepard during Mercury-Redstone 3.jpg|thumb|right|[[Alan Shepard]], the first American in space, 1961]]

On May 5, 1961, [[Alan Shepard]] became the first American in space, launching in a [[sub-orbital spaceflight|ballistic trajectory]] on [[Mercury-Redstone 3]], in a spacecraft he named ''Freedom 7''.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=138–43}} Though he did not achieve orbit like Gagarin, he was the first person to exercise manual control over his spacecraft's [[Orientation (geometry)|attitude]] and [[retro-rocket]] firing.{{sfn|Gatland|1976|pp=153–54}} After his successful return, Shepard was celebrated as a national hero, honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles, and received the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] from [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite AV media |year=1961 |title=As World Watched. Spaceman Hailed After U.S. Triumph, 1961/05/08 (1961) |medium=Motion picture |url=https://archive.org/details/1961-05-08_As_World_Watched|access-date=February 20, 2012 |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel|Universal-International Newsreel]] |oclc=709678549}}</ref>

American [[Gus Grissom|Virgil "Gus" Grissom]] repeated Shepard's suborbital flight in ''[[Mercury-Redstone 4|Liberty Bell 7]]'' on July 21, 1961.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Neuman |first=Scott |date=2021-07-22 |title=A New Analysis May Have Just Solved A Decades-Old Mystery Of The Space Race |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/07/22/1019254674/gus-grissom-liberty-bell-mercury-the-right-stuff |access-date=2022-12-13}}</ref> Almost a year after the Soviet Union put a human into orbit, astronaut [[John Glenn]] became the first American to orbit the Earth, on February 20, 1962.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=156–164}} His [[Mercury-Atlas 6]] mission completed three orbits in the ''Friendship 7'' spacecraft, and splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean, after a tense reentry, due to what falsely appeared from the telemetry data to be a loose heat-shield.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=156–164}} On February 23, 1962, President Kennedy awarded Glenn with the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] in a ceremony at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/president-john-f-kennedy-pins-nasa-distinguished-service-medal-on-john-glenn|title=President John F. Kennedy Pins NASA Distinguished Service Medal on John Glenn|publisher=NASA|access-date=July 30, 2018 |date=May 13, 2015}}</ref> As the first American in orbit, Glenn became a national hero, and received a [[ticker-tape parade]] in New York City, reminiscent of that given for [[Charles Lindbergh]].

The United States launched three more Mercury flights after Glenn's: ''[[Aurora 7]]'' on May 24, 1962, duplicated Glenn's three orbits, ''[[Mercury-Atlas 8|Sigma 7]]'' on October 3, 1962, six orbits, and ''[[Faith 7]]'' on May 15, 1963, 22 orbits (32.4 hours), the maximum capability of the spacecraft. NASA at first intended to launch one more mission, extending the spacecraft's endurance to three days, but since this would not beat the Soviet record, it was decided instead to concentrate on developing Project Gemini.<ref>{{cite book|last=Catchpole|first=John|title=Project Mercury – NASA's First Manned Space Programme|date=2001|pages=385–386|publisher=Springer Praxis|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=1-85233-406-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/projectmercuryna0000catc}}</ref>