1. Project Mercury
Initiated in 1958 by USA, and was finished in 1963. It
involved around 2,000,000 people from different government institutions. Project Mercury
was the first of the United States ‘man-in-space’ program. It involved six
flights with human crew, but the number of planned flights was 25. The objectives were:
- Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth.
Investigate man’s performance capabilities and his
ability to function in the environment of space.
Recover the man and the spacecraft safely.
Taken from NASA’s
Historical Subject Reference Guide website
After the objectives were set, few
guidelines were fixed to make sure that the most appropriate and safest approach will be
taken.
The crew:
The conference of Glennan (NASA Administrator), that took
place in Washington on April 9th 1959 had acquainted the public to the seven
nations nominees for the first voyage to space. Glennan described them:
‘They were to be called "astronauts,"
as the pioneers of ballooning had been called "Argonauts," for they were to sail
into a new, uncharted ocean. These personable pilots were introduced in civilian dress;
many people in their audience forgot that they were volunteer test subjects and military
officers. Their public comments did not class them with any elite intelligencia. Rather
they were a contingent of mature Americans, average in build and visage, family men all,
college-educated as engineers, possessing excellent health, and professionally committed
to flying advanced aircraft. Compared with the average, white, middle-class American male,
they enjoyed better health, physically and psychologically, and they had far more
experience among and above the clouds. Slightly short of average in stature, they were
above average in seriousness of purpose. Otherwise these seven seemed almost random
samples of average American manhood. Yet the names of Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom,
Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton were perhaps to become as familiar in American history as
those of any actor, soldier, or athlete.’
Taken from NASA’s
Historical Subject Reference Guide website
Missions:
| Mission
Abbreviation |
Crew |
Backup
Crew |
Vehicle |
Objective |
| MR-3 |
Alan B.Shepard |
|
Spacecraft
no.7 Launch vehicle MR-7 |
Determinate
the man's abilities in space environment |
| MR-4 |
Virgil 1"Gus" Grissom |
John
H. Glenn Jr. |
Spacecraft
no.11 Launch vehicle S/N MR-8 |
Corroborate
the man-in-space concept |
| MA-6 |
John H.Glenn Jr. |
|
Spacecraft
no.13 Vehicle number 109-D |
Place
man into earth's orbit and observe reaction and return him safely to point he could be
found. And maintain spacecraft attitude for radar tracking. |
| MA-7 |
M.Scott Carpenter |
|
Spacecraft
no.18 vehicle number 107-D |
Corroborate
the man-in orbit |
| MA-8 |
Walter M.Scirra Jr. |
|
Spacecraft
no.16 launch vehicle 113-D |
Man-machine
in orbit for 9 hours |
| MA-9 |
L. Gordon Cooper |
|
Spacecraft
no.20 launch vehicle 130D |
Man
only 1 day in orbit |
| Launch |
Landing |
Highlights |
| May 5 1961 9:34am EST |
May
5 1961 9:49am EST, Atlantic Ocean |
Successful |
| July 21, 1961 7:20am EST |
July
21 1961, 7:35am EST, Atlantic Ocean |
Range 262.5nm, altitude 102.8nm period of weightlessness 5 min. |
| February 20, 1962 9:47am EST Cape Canaveral |
February
20 1962 02:43pm EST 800 miles SE of Bermuda |
Successful First American in Orbit weightlessness 4h:48min |
| May 24, 1962 7:45 EST Cape Canaveral |
May
24, 1962 12:41pm EST 19deg29min N 64deg05minW |
Successful Weightlessness 4h:39min |
| October 3 1962 |
|
Successful weightlessness 8h:56min |
| May 15, 1963 |
|
Successful weightlessness 34h:3min |
Information
taken from NASA’s website, some information wasn’t included, and those are
manned only missions.
The 2nd unnamed capsule launch. NASA.
2. Project Gemini
On December 7th 1961 NASA announced that it was planning to extend the
present manned space flight program by introducing two man spacecraft, officially program
was named Gemini of January 7th 1962 after the third constellation of the
zodiac.
The project was supervised by the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. The main
objectives that were assigned were:
- To subject expose two man and the equipment for a long duration flight.
To effect encounter and docking with other orbiting vehicles, and abilities to steer the
docked vehicles in space.
To improve methods of reentry and landing of the spacecraft.
To obtain extra information on weightlessness on crewmembers.
The projected ended officially in November 1966.
TITAN II-GEMINI LAUNCH CREW LED BY LT. COLONEL
ALBERT (CENTER), March 1964. NASA.
| Mission Abbreviation |
Crew |
Backup
Crew |
CapCom |
Vehicle |
| Gemini-3 |
Virgil I. Grissom, John W.Young |
Walter
M Schirra Jr. Thomas P Stafford |
L
Goordon Cooper Roger B Chafee |
Gemini-3
|
| Gemini-4 |
James A. McDivitt Edward H White |
Frank
Borman James A Lovell Jr. |
Clifton
C.Williams Jr. Vigil I Grissom |
Gemini-4 |
| Gemini-5 |
C.Gordon Cooper Charles Conrad Jr. |
Neil
A Armstrong Elliot M See Jr. |
Virgil
I Grissom James A McDivitt Edwin E Aldrin Neil A Armstrong |
Gemini-5 |
| Gemini-7 |
Frank Borman James A Lovell |
Edwar
H White Micheal Collins |
Alan
L Bean Elliot M See Jr. Eugene A Cernan Charles A Basst II |
Gemini-7 |
| Gemini-6-A |
Walter M Schirra Jr. Thomas P Stafford |
Virgil
I Grissom John W Young |
Alan
L Bean Elliot M See Jr. Eugene A Cernan Charles A Basst II |
Gemini-6-A |
| Gemini-8 |
Neil A Armstrong David R Scott |
Charles
Conrad Jr. Richard F Gordon Jr. |
R.
Walter Cunnigham James A Lovel Jr. |
Gemini-8 |
| Gemini-9-A |
Thomas P. Stafford Eugene A Cernan |
James
A Lovell Jr. Edwin E Aldrin |
Edwin
E Aldrin Jr. Neil A Armstrong James A Lovell Jr.
Richard F. Gordon |
Gemini-9-A |
| Gemini-10 |
John W Young Micheal Collons |
Alan
L. Bean Clifton C. Williams Jr. |
L
Gordon Cooper Jr. Edwin E Aldrin |
Gemini-10 |
| Gemini-11 |
Charles Condrad Jr. Richard F.Gordon Jr. |
Neil
A Armstrong William A Anders |
Clifton
C.Williams Jr. John W.Young Alan L Bean |
Gemini-11 |
| Gemini-12 |
James A Lovell Jr. Edwin E Aldrin |
Eugene
A Cernan L Gordon Cooper Jr. |
Stuart
A Roosa Charles Condrad Jr. William A. Anders |
Gemini-12 |
| Objective |
Launch |
Landing |
Highlights |
| Evaluate
two-man design, demonstrate two manned orbital flight (3) |
March
23 1965 9:24:00am EST |
March
23 1965. 22deg26min N 70deg51min W |
Most
of the objectives were achieved |
| Evaluate effects of prolonged space flight with special procedures like
rest and work cycle, eating schedule. (4) |
June 3 1965 10:15am EST |
June 7 1965 27deg44min N 74deg 11min W |
Most of the objectives were achieved |
| Demonstrate
8-day capability of staying in weightlessness. (5) |
August
21, 1965 8:59am EST |
August
29 1965 29deg44min N 69deg45min W |
It
wasn’t successful flight most of the objectives were failed. |
| Manage
14-day mission. Evaluate lightweight pressure suit. Manage 20 experiments.(7) |
December
4 1965 2:30pm EST |
December
18 1965 25deg 25.1min N 70.6deg 7min W |
Successful
mission all objectives completed |
| Primary
objective was to meet up with Gemini-7 (6-A) |
December
15 1965 8:37am EST |
December
16 1965 23deg35min N 67deg 50minW |
Most
of the objectives were achieved |
| Primary
objective was to meet up and dock with Gemini Agena target vehicle (GATV-5003). Perform 10
Experiments. (8) |
March
16 1988 11:41pm EST |
March
17 1966 25deg 13,8min N 136deg 0min E Pacific Ocean |
Gemini-8
docked successfully with GATV-5003, but needed to lift off after 30-min. because of target
vehicle combination had to encounter increasing yaw and roll rates. |
| Primary
Objective was to meet, dock, and conduct with EVA. Execute 7 experiments practice docking,
meet up with ATDA (9-A) |
June
3 1966 8:39am EST |
June
6 1966 27deg52min N 75deg 0.4min W |
Because
of the shroud on ATDA the docking was partly achieved, but instead the crew managed to do
different maneuvers, it had connected with EVA for over 2 hours. |
| Join
up and dock with Gemini Agena, Conduct EVA, perform 4 experiments. (10) |
July
18 1966 5:20pm EST |
July
21 ,1966 4:07pm EST 26deg 44.7min N 71deg 57min W |
Most
of the objectives were achieved, some experiments needed to be canceled because of the
insufficient fuel reserves. |
| Join
up and dock with Gemini Agena (GATV-5006), Perform EVA, perform 11 experiments (11) |
September
12 1966 9:42am EST |
September
15 1966 24deg 15.4min N 70deg 0min W |
Most
of the objectives were achieved |
| Joining
up docking and performing EVA, perform 14 experiments conduct system tests. (12) |
November
11 1966 3:46pm EST |
November
15 1966 24deg 35min N 69deg 57min W |
EVA
time was 5 hours 30 min. Most of the objectives were accomplished |
Information
taken from NASA’s website, some information wasn’t included, and those are
manned only missions.
|