The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American crewed space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights in 1960 and 1961, culminating wit
Mercury-Redstone 2 launch carrying Ham, a chimpanzee, on 31 January 1961
Comparison of Mercury-Redstone (right) with Redstone missile and Jupiter-C
Mercury-Redstone prior to test-firing in the Redstone Test Stand at Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama
MSFC Mercury-Redstone Project Manager Joachim Kuettner (l) and center officials host MR-4 astronaut Gus Grissom (6th from l).
Mercury-Redstone 3
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Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had t
Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle
…19 December 1960 Empty capsule MR-2 MR-2 31 January 1961 Carried Ham, a chimpanzee MR-BD MR-5 24 March 1961 Empty nonfunctional boilerplate capsule MR-3 MR-7 5 May 1961 Carried astronaut Alan Shepard MR-4 MR-8 21 July 1961 Carried astronaut Gus Grissom (unflown) MR-4 (unflown) MR-6 Gallery Mercury-Redstone…
Still frame of Alan Shepard taken by a motion picture camera aboard Freedom 7 during splashdown
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr.Project Mercury Crewed missions← Mercury-Redstone BDMercury-Redstone 4 →
Launch of MR-3 on May 5, 1961
Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 spacecraft before launch