THE MANNED FLIGHTS
 
Mercury-Redstone 3
FREEDOM 7
May 5, 1961
Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
 
15 minutes, 28 seconds
Suborbital flight that successfully put
the first American in space.
 
Mercury-Redstone 4
LIBERTY BELL 7
July 21, 1961
Virgil I. Grissom
 
 
15 minutes, 37 seconds
Also suborbital; successful flight but the
spacecraft sank shortly after splashdown.
 
 
Mercury-Atlas 6
FRIENDSHIP 7
February 20, 1962
John H. Glenn, Jr.
 
04 hours, 55 minutes 23 seconds
Three-orbit flight that placed the first
American into orbit.
 
 
Mercury-Atlas 7
AURORA 7
May 24, 1962
M. Scott Carpenter
 
04 hours, 56 minutes, 5 seconds 
Confirmed the success of Mercury-Atlas 6
by duplicating flight.
 
 
Mercury-Atlas 8
SIGMA 7
October 03, 1962
Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
 
09 hours, 13 minutes, 11 seconds 
Six-orbit engineering test flight.
 
Mercury-Atlas 9
FAITH 7
May 15-16, 1963
L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
 
34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds
Last Mercury mission; completed 22 orbits
to evaluate effects of one day in space.