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Mercury MR-5
Part of Mercury
Mercury
Mercury
Credit: Manufacturer Image
Planned Mercury suborbital flight. After Soviet full-day orbital flight in August 1961, NASA's suborbital hops looked pathetic. Further suborbital Mercury flights were cancelled.

Launched: 1961 Late summer. Number crew: 1 .

The original Mercury project plan envisioned all of the astronauts making an initial suborbital hop aboard a Redstone booster before making an orbital flight aboard an Atlas. However delays in the program resulted in the Redstone flights coming much closer to the Atlas flights than planned. By the time of the first suborbital Mercury flight, the Russians had already orbited Yuri Gagarin. After Grissom's capsule sunk, it was still planned to fly Glenn on a suborbital flight to prove the capsule. But Gherman Titov was launched on a full-day orbital flight in August 1961, making NASA's suborbital hops look pathetic. Glenn was moved to the first orbital Atlas flight, and further suborbital Mercury flights were cancelled.



People: Glenn, Slayton. Spacecraft: Mercury.

1961 August 18 - . LV Family: Redstone. Launch Vehicle: Redstone MRLV.
1961 Late summer - . LV Family: Redstone. Launch Vehicle: Redstone MRLV.

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