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Launch of Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7)

The launch of Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7). Onboard is astronaut Alan Shepard on the first American manned spaceflight (sub-orbital) - May 5th 1961

Mercury-Redstone 3

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Suborbital
Mission: Human Exploration

Suborbital Launch Complex 5 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

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 manned flight of Project Mercury, the objective of which was to put an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

Redstone

Family:
Configuration: MRLV

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space. The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit. A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the U.S. Army's Redstone ballistic missile and the first stage of the related Jupiter-C launch vehicle; but to human-rate it, the structure and systems were modified to improve safety and reliability.

Specifications
  • Stages
    1
  • Length
    25.41 m
  • Diameter
    1.78 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.78 m
  • Launch Mass
    30.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Redstone
  • Family
  • Variant
    MRLV
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Redstone MRLV
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Mercury No.7


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 1 Crew Capacity: 1
Destination: Suborbital
Serial Number: 7

Mercury No.7 is the Mercury capsule used for the Mercury-Redstone 3 - callsign "Freedom 7" - mission launched on May 5, 1961 and piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard.

Mercury Details

Crew


Alan Shepard

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Nov. 18, 1923
Date of Death: July 21, 1998

Chrysler

Chrysler

(CHR)

Founded: 1950 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

In July 1959, NASA chose the Redstone missile as the basis for the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle to be used for suborbital test flights of the Project Mercury spacecraft. Three unmanned MRLV launch attempts were made between November 1960 and March 1961, two of which were successful. The MRLV successfully launched the chimpanzee Ham, and astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on three suborbital flights in January, May and July 1961, respectively.

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