Mercury

First series of U.S. manned spaceflights (1961–63), which began about three weeks after Yury A. Gagarin became the first human in space. In May 1961 Alan B. Shepard rode the first Mercury space capsule, Freedom 7, on a 15-minute, 302-mi (486-km) suborbital flight, attaining a maximum altitude of 116 mi (186 km). The first U.S. manned flight in orbit was that of the Friendship 7, carrying John H. Glenn, Jr., in February 1962; it completed three orbits. The last Mercury flight, Faith 7, launched in May 1963, was the longest, making 22 orbits in about 34 hours.

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