Labels:text | font | paper | letter | document OCR: MERCURY TEST FLIGHTS LAUNCH DATES July 1960 to April 1961 Seven Mercury test flights were undertaken during this period, including, on January 31, 1961, a suborbital mission, which was survived by Ham, a chimpanzee. MERCURY 3 LAUNCH DATE May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard became the first US citizen to travel into space when his Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7 was launched from Cape Canaveral. Shepard's suborbital flight lasted 15 minutes and 22 seconds. MERCURY 4 LAUNCH DATE July 21, 1961 Virgil Grissom became the second American astronaut to reach space. His capsule Liberty Bell 7 was launched by a modified Redstone ballistic missile. After a successful flight lasting 15 minutes and 37 seconds, the capsule splashed down in the Atlantic, sinking before it could be recovered. Grissom managed to swim cl ...
