Essay Archive - Project Mercury
Project Mercury
Project Mercury, the first manned U.S. space project, became an official
NASA program on October 7, 1958. The Mercury Program was given two main but
broad objectives: 1. to investigate man’s ability to survive and perform in
the space environment and 2. to develop basic space technology and hardware for
manned space flight programs to come.
NASA also had to find astronauts to fly the spacecraft. In 1959 NASA
asked the U.S. military for a list of their members who met certain
qualifications. All applicants were required to have had extensive jet aircraft
flight experience and engi....
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