mercury program
DESCRIPTION
Zach Will Pd. 3. Mercury Program. Missions. Astronauts. Space Craft. Sources. Launch Site. Astronauts. John Glenn – First American to orbit the earth Alan Shepard - First American to make a suborbital flight into space. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Mercury Program
Sources
Missions
Launch Site
Astronauts
Space Craft
Zach Will Pd. 3
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AstronautsJohn Glenn – First American to orbit the earthAlan Shepard - First American to make a suborbital flight into space.Virgil Grissom - Second suborbital flight. Spacecraft sank before recovery when hatch unexpectedly blew off.There was a total of seven but these are the three that made historic firsts.NASA also used chimpanzees in the Mercury Program
Ham the chimp
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Alan Shepard
Born November 18, 1923Went into space 2 timesWas a test pilot prior to being an astronautCommanded the Mercury 3 missionIn the Apollo program was involved in the third lunar landing
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John Glenn
Born July 18, 1921Was the first American to orbit the earthCommanded the Mercury 6 missionWas the Ohio senator from 1974 – 1999Went into space for a second time at age 77 and still holds the record for oldest man in space
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MissionsTotal of 29 missions
First twenty were unmannedThe last nine were manned and three were canceled
Most important MissionsMercury - Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard made the first suborbital flight for America May 5, 1961Mercury-Atlas 6 – John Glenn completed the first American orbit in space. February 20, 1962
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SpacecraftRockets
Redstone – 83 ft.Rocket used in the beginning of the program
Atlas – 82 ft.Rocket used later in the program
Mercury CapsuleOne crew member
1.7 cubic feet of habitable volume
Over 120 controlsEscape system in event of rocket failure
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Launch Site
Kennedy Space CenterCape Canaveral, Florida
Has been the main launch site since 1968Opened early in 1961Replaced a launch site in AlabamaIs now a popular tourist destination
Rocket Launch Video
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Sources
Mercury Program. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury.htm>.NASA - Home. Web. 23 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.nasa.gov/>.Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Web. 23 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma
in_Page>.