The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Alan Shepherd Suiting-up before the
First Manned Space Flight
The Seven Original NASA Astronauts Selected in 1959 for the Mercury Program
Project Mercury lasted 2 years and consisted of six manned
flights. Mercury also conducted 19 test flights before the capsule
was ready for manned space flight. The first flight involved sending
one astronaut into space. This first flight was suborbital and lasted
for only 15 minutes. May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became
the first American in space.
Project Mercury’s third flight was also its first orbital flight.
During this flight,
astronaut John
Glenn became the
first American to
orbit the Earth.
He remained in
orbit for 4 hours
and 55 minutes,
while orbiting the
Earth three times.
On the final
Mercury flight,
astronaut Gordon Cooper orbited the Earth 22 times
and stayed in space for about 34 hours and stayed in
584
John Glenn enters his capsule Friendship 7