Mercury

In-active Human Rated Capsule Crew Capacity: 1 Diameter: 1.8 m Height: 3.3 m

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May 5, 1961

Human transportation to upper Earth atmosphere and low Earth orbit.

Flight Life

Between 15 minutes and 3 days.

Description

The Mercury spacecraft's principal designer was Maxime Faget, who started research for manned spaceflight during the time of the NACA. With 100 cubic feet (2.8 m3) of habitable volume, the capsule was just large enough for a single crew member. Inside were 120 controls: 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses and 35 mechanical levers. The heaviest spacecraft, Mercury-Atlas 9, weighed 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) fully loaded. Its outer skin was made of René 41, a nickel alloy able to withstand high temperatures.

History

The Mercury spacecraft was the manned capsule used for suborbital and orbital launches during the Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program of the United States, from 1958 through 1963.



Long March 3B/E
Success
1 day, 21 hours ago
Fengyun-4C
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

China's geostationary meteorological satellite program FY-4 (Feng Yun 4) is the second generation of chinese geostationary meteorological satellites.


Long March 8A
Success
2 days, 14 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 17
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
2 days, 23 hours ago
Obzor-R No.1
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Assignment of payloads to this launch is uncertain. The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite desi…


LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)
Success
4 days, 10 hours ago
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Long March 12A
Success
5 days, 12 hours ago
Demo Flight
Long March 12A Pad - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch of CASC/SAST’s Long March 12A rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage attempted to land on a landing pad about 300 km …


HANBIT-Nano
Failure
5 days, 12 hours ago
Spaceward
HANBIT Pad - Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil

Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small sa…


H3-22
Failure
6 days, 12 hours ago
Michibiki 5 (QZS-5)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) is a Japanese satellite navigation system operating from inclined, elliptical geosynchronous orbits to achieve o…


Electron
Success
1 week ago
The Wisdom God Guides (iQPS Launch 6)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


New Shepard
Success
1 week ago
NS-37
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-37 is the 16th crewed flight for the New Shepard program and the 37th in the New Shepard program's history.


Long March 5
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
TJSW-23
101 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.