(1961-63), America's first manned space program, designed to put a man in space and to gather information about the capabilities of humans in space. The first manned suborbital flight (Mercury 3) was undertaken on May 5, 1961, by astronaut
Alan Shepard in Freedom 7. Lt. Col.
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth when he circled the globe three times aboard the Mercury capsule Friendship 7. The final flight of the project (Mercury 9) occurred May 15-16, 1963, when Maj. Gordon Cooper, Jr., made the longest flight, completing twenty-two earth orbits aboard Mercury capsule Faith 7. Project Mercury was succeeded by the
Gemini program.
