Project Mercury

Posts related to Project Mercury, America’s first venture into space. Our goal is to put one person at a time into orbit and see how well they can function in space before returning safely to Earth.

Kuiper rests his head on a NASA technical report.

Katherine Johnson

Kuiper smiles in excitement in front of a Mercury test capsule

Early Days of the Space Race

Zoomed out view of Kuiper with a Redstone rocket. He is small.

Redstone Rocket

Kuiper holds a banana in his mouth.

Mercury-Redstone 2

Kuiper in an N7 hoodie with commander stripes.

Mercury-Redstone 3

Extreme close-up of Kuiper looking sad in the bath.

Mercury-Redstone 4

Kuiper beams with job in a vintage airplane trainer.

First Lady Astronaut Trainees

Zoomed out view of Kuiper with Atlas rocket. He is quite small.

Kuiper poses thoughtfully in a replica Mercury capsule.

Mercury-Atlas 6

Kuiper poses with a statue of Deke Slayton in a spacesuit.

Kuiper poses with "Aurora," capsule flown on Mercury Atlas 7.

Mercury-Atlas 7

Closeup of Kuiper with a paintbrush in his mouth.

Mercury-Atlas 8

Mercury-Atlas 9