Project Mercury was America’s first program to safely launch and return a human from Earth orbit.

After two suborbital missions flown by Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on Redstone rockets, John Glenn, aboard the Mercury Spacecraft Friendship 7, was launched by an Atlas rocket on February 20, 1962, successfully completing three Earth orbits.

This exhibit honors the Mercury program, and in particular, the original seven astronauts who rewarded an anxious American public with the first six, never-to-be-forgotten, manned space flights by the United States. This particular spacecraft is a model of Sigma 7, the third Mercury mission to orbit the Earth in October 1962. It was piloted by Wally Schirra, who was a San Diego resident, and for many years on the board of the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Project Mercury is now history. In a span of four years, eight months and one week, it earned a unique place in the annals of science and technology, blazing the trail for Projects Gemini and Apollo.

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