The incident prompted many changes in the Apollo program. Alan Shepard became the first American in space when the Freedom 7 spacecraft blasted off from Florida on May 5, Ten years later, Shepard would leave Earth's atmosphere again to become the fifth man to walk on the moon — and the first one to play golf there. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more!
And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community space. Originally founded in , Space. See all comments 0. Suborbital missions were launched using Redstone rockets , while orbital flights were made using Atlas launchers.
Launched on July 21, , astronaut Gus Grissom conducted a sub-orbital flight in this spacecraft. Photos: John Karpiej, Launched on February 20, , astronaut John Glenn conducted three orbits in this spacecraft.
Photos: Richard Kruse, Launched on May 24, , astronaut Scott Carpenter conducted three orbits in this spacecraft. Launched on October 3, , astronaut Wally Schirra conducted six orbits in this spacecraft. Launched on May 15, , astronaut Gordon Cooper conducted Photos: Kevin Barrett, So when John Glenn blasted off to circle Earth three times, his Friendship 7 spacecraft did it aboard a more powerful Mercury-Atlas rocket combination.
Glenn's Feb. During his five-hour mission, he also saw strange "fireflies" that were appearing to follow his spacecraft, a phenomenon later explained as ice crystals coming off the hull. Controllers on the ground saw an indication that his landing bag had prematurely deployed.
They waited to tell Glenn, then close to re-entry instructed Glenn to keep his retrorocket package strapped on to his spacecraft as a precaution. The indication turned out to be false, and Glenn was upset that he had not been told as soon as the problem arose. Glenn became a public hero following his flight; he wanted to return to space, but then-U. Kennedy among others considered him too valuable, according to the New York Times.
Glenn eventually became a senator for Ohio, then returned to space at age 77 aboard shuttle mission STS in The next Mercury mission, Aurora 7, again ran into splashdown problems on May 24, Pilot Scott Carpenter landed about miles kilometers off course after about five hours in space. Some space program officials, notably flight director Chris Kraft, blamed the problem on Carpenter's inattention during the mission. In two oral interviews with NASA, Carpenter said it was a combination of technical problems some sensors were malfunctioning and excessive fuel use as Carpenter worked to solve Glenn's firefly mystery.
There was enough for the entry. A lot of people thought there would not be. And it was anybody's guess. NASA was already planning for the next space program — Gemini, which would test orbital maneuvers and spacewalks in preparation for eventual moon missions during Apollo. With the two-man Gemini spacecraft heavily in development, NASA focused the last two Mercury missions on making sure that spacecraft and astronauts could be ready for missions that lasted over several days. Wally Schirra named his spacecraft Sigma 7 to honor excellence in engineering.
He launched on Oct. By the time he was ready to go back to Earth, more than half of Schirra's fuel was left. In his autobiography "Schirra's Space," the astronaut said he had to dump the remainder. Schirra's success cleared the way for the final flight, Faith 7. Gordon Cooper flew successfully for 22 orbits between May 15 and 16,
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