On February 20, 1962 an Atlas rocket successfully carried John Glenn into Earth's orbit. The rocket that was used was called Friendship 7. There were two other flights that took place before February 20, 1062, but they were suborbital flights. The objectives of the Mercury Program were to put a manned spacecraft into orbit, investigate man's capabilities and ability to function in space, and recover the man and spacecraft safely.

                Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963, the Mercury Project was the United States first manned space program. There were six manned missions Redstone 3 in Freedom 7, Redstone 4 in Liberty Bell 7, Atlas 6 in Friendship 7, Atlas 7 in Aurora 7, Atlas 8 in Sigma 7, and Atlas 9 in Faith 7. There were a total of 20 unmanned missions.

                The total cost of the Mercury Program was $277 million in 1965 US dollars. It also involved the work of 2 million people. The first flight was on September 9, 1959  and the last was on May 15-16, 1963.

"Project Mercury." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Mar. 2017. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

Loff, Sarah. "Project Mercury - America's First Astronauts." NASA. NASA, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.