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.



Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-97
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


PSLV-DL
Failure
1 day, 23 hours ago
EOS-N1 and others
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Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 14 hours ago
Pandora / Twilight rideshare mission
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

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Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 6 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-96
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 6-88
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
CSG-3
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Long March 7A
Success
2 weeks ago
Shijian 29 A-B
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

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Long March 4B
Success
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Tianhui 7
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

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Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 weeks, 2 days ago
AIST-2T 01 & 02
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

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

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