Project Mercury

Project Mercury by Soren Gerlach, adamfarkas, karkylu, kiewskim, Maher Fawaz, KyleGBC, Ikercorian

A Satellite Crash - Project Mercury

Prior to the flights of astronauts in Project Mercury, the first U.S. human spaceflight program, chimpanzees were used to better understand the effects of acceleration and weightlessness. Instead of a spacesuit, these chimps had a pressurized capsule that allowed them to breathe even in case of a failure of spacecraft cabin pressure. The chimp was strapped into a retaining harness inside the capsule and had to operate a system of levers and lights to test its reactions to flight. It was rewarded

NASA Introduces Mercury Astronauts

Project Mercury astronaut candidate Hal R. Crandall rides Equilibrium Chair at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.