When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Grissom launched in the Mercury-Redstone 4 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 21, ...

Sixty years ago this week, America sent its second man into space. The mission had gone flawlessly, but nearly ended in tragedy when the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury space capsule sank into the sea, almost ...

On March 24, 1961, NASA's Mercury Redstone rocket launched on its last uncrewed flight before it started sending astronauts into space. The mission was known as the Mercury Redstone Booster ...

HUNTSVILLE Ala. — The restoration of the rockets at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center has officially begun. The first parts of some of the historic rockets have been taken in for restoration, the first ...

Mercury Redstone 1 was meant to prove America could reliably launch a human rated capsule, but the rocket lifted just four inches and left a fully fueled vehicle sitting dangerously armed on the pad.

On this day in 1960, the first mission of the Mercury Program successfully launched into space. It’s mission? Test the hardware that would later be used to bring the first Americans into space. There ...

The original Mercury space capsule had no window, a hatch with 70 bolts that had to be removed from outside, and zilch for the astronaut to do except endure g-forces, hope nothing went wrong, and ...

Before being blasted into space for the first time, original Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard wanted to feel the power of the Redstone rocket. He wanted to get close to a Marshall Space Flight Center ...

Veterans inside the Mercury-Redstone blockhouse from which Alan Shepard's rocket was launched: (from left) Terry Greenfield, Ike Rigell, Kelly Fiorentino, Frank Bryan, Milt Chambers, and Curly ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Virgil "Gus" Grissom was one of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts. He became the second ...