All of the manned Mercury flights were successful.[200] The main medical problems encountered were simple personal hygiene, and post-flight symptoms of low blood pressure.[186]
The launch vehicles had been tested through several unmanned flights,
therefore the numbering of manned missions did not start with 1.[201]
Also, since two different launch vehicles were used, there were two
separate numbered series: MR for "Mercury-Redstone" (suborbital
flights), and MA for "Mercury-Atlas" (orbital flights). These names were
not popularly used, since the astronauts followed a pilot tradition,
each giving their spacecraft a name. They selected names ending with a
"7" to commemorate the seven astronauts.[52][128] Mercury-Redstone flights were launched from Launch Complex-5 while the Mercury-Atlas flights were launched from Launch Complex-14. Times given are Universal Coordinated Time, local time + 5 hours.
| Mission | Call-sign | Pilot | Launch time | Duration | Orbits | Apogee mi (km) |
Perigee mi (km) |
Max. velocity mph (km/h) |
Recovery Ship | Miss mi (km) |
Remarks[202] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury-Redstone 3 | Freedom 7 | Shepard | 14:34 on May 5, 1961 | 15 m 22 s | 0 | 117 (188) | — | 5,134 (8,262) | USS Lake Champlain (carrier)[15] | 3.5 (5.6) | First American in space.[129] |
| Mercury-Redstone 4 | Liberty Bell 7 | Grissom | 12:20 on July 21, 1961 | 15 m 37 s | 0 | 118 (190) | — | 5,168 (8,317) | USS Randolph (carrier)[203] | 5.8 (9.3) | Spacecraft sank before recovery when hatch unexpectedly blew off[204][n 23] |
| Mercury-Atlas 6 | Friendship 7 | Glenn | 14:47 on February 20, 1962 | 4 h 55 m 23 s | 3 | 162 (261) | 100 (161) | 17,544 (28,234) | USS Noa (frigate)[205] | 46 (74) | First American in orbit.[206] Retropack retained during re-entry.[207][n 24] |
| Mercury-Atlas 7 | Aurora 7 | Carpenter | 12:45 on May 24, 1962 | 4 h 56 m 5 s | 3 | 167 (269) | 100 (161) | 17,549 (28,242) | USS Farragut (destroyer)[209] | 248 (400) | Carpenter replaced Deke Slayton.[210][n 25] |
| Mercury-Atlas 8 | Sigma 7 | Schirra | 12:15 on October 3, 1962 | 9 h 13 m 15 s | 6 | 176 (283) | 100 (161) | 17,558 (28,257) | USS Kearsarge (carrier)[212] | 4.6 (7.4) | The flight closest to plan.[213] Carried out maneuvering tests[214] |
| Mercury-Atlas 9 | Faith 7 | Cooper | 13:04 on May 15, 1963 | 1 d 10 h 19 m 49 s | 22 | 166 (267) | 100 (161) | 17,547 (28,239) | USS Kearsarge[80] | 5.0 (8.1) | First American in space for over a day.[215] Last American solo mission.[n 26] |
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