Building Project Mercury: Test Flight Photos of NASA's First Spaceship

On September 9, 1956, the Big Joe launch vehicle took off for a suborbital test of the Mercury capsule. After a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the capsule was recovered after an equally successfully reentry test.

A November 4, 1959 suborbital test flight of the Mercury capsule test article launched atop Little Joe-2. While the vehicle, which was launched from Wallops Island, functioned as hoped, the escape rocked was several seconds late in firing.

A rhesus monkey known as Miss Sam rides in a model of the fiberglass contour couch. Inside this container she will launch in the Little Joe 1B suborbital test flight of the mercury Capsule.

The unmanned Mercury-Atlas 1 launch test began and ended when the engine cutoff prematurely. The emergency escape system discharged and the rocket exploded 65 seconds after launch.

Before launching from Wallops Island, the Little Joe-5 was photographed for a view of the prelaunch fittings. During the suborbital test flight was a failure when the capsule did not separate from the booster.

On December 19, 1960, the unmanned Mercury Redstone 1A launched from Cape Canaveral for a successful flight to the peak altitude of 135 miles and a horizontal distance of 235 miles.

Debris from the Mercury-Atlas 1 spacecraft, which exploded one minute after launch, was gathered and reassembled for study.

A diagram depicts how the G2498 Little Joe 5A looks for launch and the systems used.

During the March 18, 1961 launch of the Little Joe-5A, the escape rocket motor fired prematurely and before the capsule was released. After the unsuccessful launch, the Mercury capsule was recovered with the parachute floating, still attached to the capsule

On April 23, 1961, Little Joe-5B launch vehicle is connected to Mercury capsule #14.

During preflight activities for a January 31, 1961 test flight of the Mercury-Redstone 2, Chimpanzee “Ham” worked with a handler.

On November 29, 1961, a handler holds hands with Chimpanzee Enos as he lay in his flight couch. Enos wears his spacesuit as he is being prepared for insertion into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule.

After orbiting Earth twice aboard a Mercury spacecraft, Enos the chimpanzee arrives at Patrick Air Force Base after the USS Stormes recovered him and the craft south of Bermuda. Examination revealed Enos suffered no ill effects from the space ride.

Sitting on his handler’s lap Chimpanzee Enos drinks from a cup at a kitchen table.

On September 13, 1961, the Mercury-Atlas 4 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

From the Mercury-Atlas 4, this photograph of a shoreline on Earth was captured on September 13, 1961.

After a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, the Mercury-Atlas 4 was recovered at sea.

An October 1963 drawing in pen and ink revealed a proposed design for a Pig Capsule in the Little Joe capsule first shot.

A 1964 drawing depicts the relative sizes of NASA launch vehicles: the one-man Mercury craft, the two-man Gemini craft and the three-man Apollo craft.

An illustration, drawn February 11, 1964, reveals the concept of the Mercury Vehicle.