Mercury Atlas Program

The Mercury Program catapulted us into the space program. Experienced Air Force and Navy Test Pilots, who really did have “The Right Stuff”, were recruited to “pilot” the one man spacecraft into orbit riding on the nose of our first successful ICBM. In a desperate effort to catch up and surpass the clear lead the Soviets had on us, we were forced to squeeze these brave men into a small capsule on top of a relatively new missile designed to deliver nuclear warheads. However, Mercury accomplished its technical and political goals quite well.

The mercury program demonstrated the ability of man to operate a spacecraft under conditions of zero gravity when automatic control systems failed. This included attitude control, orienting the vehicle for the critical retro fire, manually firing the retro rockets to initiate reentry and landing. It also proved the need for a person to be on board as the ultimate back-up system.

Nominal orbital parameters were approximately 100 by 160 miles in altitude. Flights ranged from 3, 6 and ultimately 22 orbits of the earth in the final launch. Mercury also demonstrated the basic reentry technique of employing an ablative heat shield as sacrificial material to isolate the spacecraft from aerodynamic heating. This technique was to be successfully used in the upcoming Gemini and Apollo Programs. It was not replaced with an updated technique until the Space Shuttle.