The Mercury capsule acted as its nosecone, and the astronaut — or astrochimp — held on for the ride. The first Mercury-Redstone launch attempt, MR-1, took place on Nov. 21, 1960 — just over ...

The exterior panels from Scott Carpenter's and Wally Schirra's Mercury capsules were sold by RR Auction of Boston on Thursday (Oct. 15) for $213,090 and $240,001.25, respectively. Each metal ...

On June 11, 1963, the Mercury space capsule was patented and assigned to NASA. The patent was received less than a month after the last flight of Project Mercury had been carried out. A.S.Ganesh ...

A structural problem in the attachment of the capsule to its Atlas rocket triggered an explosion that destroyed both capsule and rocket. Four months later, the next attempt at sending Mercury into ...

In between, nothing on the Mercury capsule would allow him to perform the simplest of pilot acts: alter his flight path. Sure, he could turn, pitch, and roll this way and that.