What was Project Mercury?

In 1958, the Soviet Union launched a satellite, Sputnik, and the space race between the U.S. and the former USSR began. Both nations quickly pursued projects to place men in Earth orbit and beyond. America's first manned space program was called Project Mercury. The goals of Mercury were to place a single astronaut in Earth orbit, see if he could function in outer space and return him and the spacecraft safely to Earth. 

In 1958, a NASA review board invited 110 military test pilots to voluntarily become astronauts. The agency conducted extensive physical and psychological tests on the candidates. In 1959, seven astronauts were finally selected: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. These astronauts had many duties: 

• Assist in the design of the Mercury spacecraft. 
• Develop operational procedures and in-flight tests of equipment. 
• Participate in public relations events. 
• Monitor and manage in-flight systems. 
• Learn to maneuver the spacecraft. 
• Navigate the spacecraft. 
• Communicate with the ground crews. 
• Conduct research observations while in the weightless environment of space. 

While they trained, scientists and engineers continued to develop and test the Mercury spacecraft, spacesuits, the Redstone booster and the Atlas booster. 

In April 1961, the Soviets beat the Americans by placing cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in a single Earth orbit. In May 1961, Shepard became the first American in space. However, Shepard's flight, named "Freedom 7," lasted only 15 minutes and did not achieve Earth orbit because the Redstone rocket was not powerful enough. After Shepard's flight, President John F. Kennedy committed America to sending a man to the moon and returning him safely before the decade was out. The space race intensified. 

Grissom conducted another suborbital flight in July 1961. On February 20, 1962, Glenn rode a more powerful Atlas booster to become the first American to orbit the Earth. After Glenn's Friendship 7 flight, astronauts Carpenter, Schirra and Cooper flew three more orbital missions. Each time, the astronaut orbited the Earth for a longer amount of time. The astronauts conducted more tests of their endurance for spaceflight and of the spacecraft. In the final flight on May15-16, 1963, Cooper orbited the Earth 22 times and spent more than 34 hours in space. Project Mercury met its objectives and laid the foundations for sending Americans to the moon.

*Source: discovery.com