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| Photo: The Mercury Seven astronauts. |
Project Mercury was the United States' first human spaceflight program, running from 1959 to 1963. Its goals were to send a manned spacecraft into orbit around Earth, assess human capabilities in space, and ensure the safe recovery of both the astronaut and spacecraft upon return.
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| Photo: Alan Shepard practices operating the hand controls for the space capsule. This specially contoured couch is designed to support the body and allows astronauts to endure accelerations of up to twenty times gravity, significantly exceeding those anticipated during spaceflight. |
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| Photo: A Mercury capsule was secured to a Redstone booster rocket on the third level of the Redstone gantry at Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA is planning a suborbital manned launch of Project Mercury sometime this week. The mission will involve the capsule, carrying an astronaut, making a ballistic flight over a range of 250 nautical miles, reaching a peak altitude of 115 statute miles. |
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| Photo: The interior of the MR-3 space capsule. |
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, flying the Mercury spacecraft
Freedom 7 on the suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) mission. Shepard’s 15-minute flight did not orbit the Earth but reached an altitude of just over 187 km, covering more than 300 miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida. He splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Grand Bahamas and was recovered by the aircraft carrier
Lake Champlain, the primary recovery ship for America’s first crewed space mission.
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| A MR-3 launch cover from "SpaceCraft Swanson" commemorating "Freedom 7" and astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Postmarked at Patrick Air Force Base on May 5, 1961, it is signed by Shepard himself. Only 300 of these covers were produced, each individually numbered on the back; this example is number 30 of 300. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: Electrodes connected to Alan Shepard monitor his bodily functions during the space flight. |
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| A MR-3 launch cover from "SpaceCraft" postmarked at Patrick Air Force Base on May 5, 1961. It features an illustrated cachet titled "Man-in-Space Mission of Project Mercury" and is signed by Alan Shepard. This cover was part of the Steven R. Belasco Collection of Space Memorabilia.- Heritage Auctions |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard in his spacesuit preparing for America’s first manned spaceflight on May 5, 1961. |
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| A MR-3 launch cover from "SpaceCraft" postmarked at Port Canaveral on May 5, 1961, and signed by Alan Shepard. This cover was from the family collection of astronaut Richard Gordon. - Heritage Auction |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard boarding his "Freedom 7" spacecraft. |
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| Photo: Gus Grissom looks through the periscope of "Freedom 7" to give Alan Shepard a view of him. |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard gives a final look outside as his space capsule is sealed. |
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| Photo: Diagram showing the communication and tracking system used for crewed Mercury spaceflights. |
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| A MR-3 launch cover from "Goldcraft" commemorating Alan Shepard’s historic "Freedom 7" flight, postmarked May 5, 1961, and signed by Shepard in blue ballpoint. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard being lifted from his space capsule following its splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. |
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| A MR-3 splashdown cover from "Goldcraft" featuring the printed text "SHEPARD'S FLIGHT ENDS" postmarked at West End, Bahamas on May 5, 1961. |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard stepping off a helicopter onto the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. |
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| A MR-3 Crew Cover (Type 1) on ship's stationery from the USS Lake Champlain, postmarked on May 5, 1961, and is signed by astronaut Alan Shepard, who also included the name of his space capsule, "FREEDOM 7," along with the flight date. - Heritage Auctions |
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| Photo: The "Freedom 7" capsule being lowered onto the deck of the USS Lake Champlain by recovery helicopters. |
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| Photo: America's first spaceman, Alan Shepard, glanced back at his space capsule aboard the carrier Lake Champlain. He and the capsule were retrieved from the Atlantic after the flight. |
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| A MR-3 Crew Cover (Type 3) from the USS Lake Champlain, postmarked on May 5, 1961, and is signed by astronaut Alan Shepard and NASA Public Affairs Officer Alfred P. Alibrando. Alibrando served as a NASA public information and affairs officer from 1960 to 1975 at the agency’s Washington headquarters, playing a key role in managing public affairs for human spaceflight programs including Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo–Soyuz, and Skylab. |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard departing from the USS Lake Champlain en route to the Grand Bahamas. |
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| A MR-3 Crew Cover (Type 3) from the USS Lake Champlain, postmarked on May 5, 1961. The address on the cover has been partially erased. |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard at the Grand Bahamas tracking station undergoing post-flight tests after his historic May 5, 1961, spaceflight. |
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| Photo: Alan Shepard waves to the crowds during a parade from the White House to the Capitol on May 8, 1961, where members of Congress honored him. Earlier that day, President Kennedy awarded Shepard NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal in a Rose Garden ceremony. Shepard and his wife, Louise, then rode in Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s limousine to the Capitol for the motorcade. |
(Reference from
Mercury-Redstone 3)
