60 years ago: Mercury-Redstone 3

[Ptah]

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

Shepard named his space capsule Freedom 7, setting a precedent for the remaining six Mercury astronauts naming their spacecraft. The number 7 was included in all the crewed Mercury spacecraft names to honor NASA's first group of seven astronauts. His spacecraft reached an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles (116.5 statute miles, 187.5 km) and traveled a downrange distance of 263.1 nautical miles (302.8 statute miles, 487.3 km). It was the fourth Mercury flight launched with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle,[Note 1] from Cape Canaveral, Florida, close to the Atlantic Ocean.

During the flight, Shepard observed the Earth and tested the capsule's attitude control system, turning the capsule around to face its blunt heat shield forward for atmospheric re-entry. He also tested the retrorockets which would return later missions from orbit, though the capsule did not have enough energy to remain in orbit. After re-entry, the capsule landed by parachute on the North Atlantic Ocean off the Bahamas. Shepard and the capsule were picked up by helicopter and brought to U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_3

[Demovictory9]

1. Freedom 7 - Full Mission

[Ptah]

2. Thanks for the link, Demovictory9.

[PCIntern]

7. Thank you for that!

Terrific

I remember it well as I remember many of the early space flights. NBC and CBS had fantastic coverage and mock-ups/models and it was very educational. Those Atlas boosters looked huge in those days but when the Saturn 5 was unveiled it dwarfed everything we’d ever seen or considered, even in the science fiction films.

Again, thanks for the clip. Made my day.

[Demovictory9]

8. the booster in the clip did look a bit tiny.

[crickets]

9. Thanks for this.

I'm too young to remember anything before Apollo. Neat!

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. "Dear Lord..."

“...Please don’t let me fuck up.”

[Maxheader]

4. Walter Cronkite,

Used to give very distinct, emotional broadcasts on

all space launches....

[11 Bravo]

5. My Dad flew with Al Shepard at the US Navy Test Pilot School at Pax River, MD.

Dad said Shepard was one of the funniest guys he ever met, and a shit-hot fighter pilot.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. Al Shepard was only Mercury astronaut to walk on the moon.

Golfed there, too.