Project Mercury

Catchpole tells the fascinating story behind the development of the first American manned space program and its associated infrastructure. He provides accounts of the space launch vehicles, astronauts and their training, tracking systems and individual flights.

Basic technical details are coupled with a complete pictorial history of Project Mercury in this compact and concise guide. Fascinating facts extracted from official NASA documents and colour images of the people, machines, and methods involved in Project Mercury provide a comprehensive picture of the hundreds who helped make the program successful. Both seasoned space buffs and young adults nurturing their interest in the space program will find this an informative resource for the Project Mercury mission.

A riveting history of the epic orbital flight that put America back into the space race. If the United States couldn’t catch up to the Soviets in space, how could it compete with them on Earth? That was the question facing John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War—a perilous time when the Soviet Union built the wall in Berlin, tested nuclear bombs more destructive than any in history, and beat the United States to every major milestone in space. The race to the heavens seemed a race for survival—and America was losing. On February 20, 1962, when John Glenn blasted into orbit aboard Friendship 7, his mission was not only to circle the planet; it was to calm the fears of the free world and renew America’s sense of self-belief. Mercury Rising re-creates the tension and excitement of a flight that shifted the momentum of the space race and put the United States on the path to the moon. Drawing on new archival sources, personal interviews, and previously unpublished notes by Glenn himself, Mercury Rising reveals how the astronaut’s heroics lifted the nation’s hopes in what Kennedy called the "hour of maximum danger."

Project Mercury was America's entry into the manned spaceflight program. When the program began in 1958, the Soviet Union was far ahead of the US in the race for supremacy in space. With immense effort, and in record time, NASA, the newly created spaceflight organization, developed a space transport system with orbital capsule and booster rockets. They used it to send Alan Shepard on a first suborbital "jump" into space in May 1961, and in February 1962 to make John Glenn the first American astronaut to orbit the earth. Nevertheless, the Americans were beaten by the Soviets in the race to put the first man into space. Project Mercury was, however, the foundation for NASA's later success in the race to the moon. All Project Mercury missions are discussed, including details on all craft and the astronauts involved. Superb color, archival images, cutaways and plans are also included.

This title will explore the beginnings of the Space Race, including the development and launch by the Soviet Union of Sputnik, the world's first satellite. America's response was Project Mercury, run by the newly formed NASA. With its goal of putting astronauts into Earth's orbit, Project Mercury spawned such household names as John Glen, Alan Shepard, and the other "Mercury 7" astronauts. Will also examine animals in space, and the parallel space exploration programs of the Soviet Union, including the efforts of rocket designer Sergei Korolev. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.