Project Mercury was NASA's program that launched the first American astronauts into space, completing a total of six crewed spaceflights.

A European-Japanese spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury's north pole as part of only the second human survey of our solar system's innermost planet. The ...

The first American crewed program was Project Mercury, with each of the missions carrying a 7 after their respective titles in honor of the first seven astronauts of NASA. Project Mercury was NASA’s ...

Related: 500 years Encased in the monument's concrete base is a time capsule containing technical reports, photos, recordings and other memorabilia related to Project Mercury.

The original Mercury space capsule had no window, a hatch with 70 bolts that had to be removed from outside, and zilch for the astronaut to do except endure g-forces, hope nothing went wrong, and ...

Ice, ice, baby — too cold, too cold. A recent spacecraft flyby over Mercury has experts believing that the planet closest to the sun has “frozen water” on its surface — and they’re ...

Ground teams cannot restore the spacecraft's full thrust, forcing it to take a different trajectory on its way to the innermost planet.

Creating Gemini Project Mercury, America’s first human space program, had systems that were largely automated. Gemini was different, for the first time putting pilots in control.

A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos ever of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles (295 kilometers) above ...

Europe and Japan’s BepiColombo beamed back close-up images of the solar system’s innermost planet, flying through Mercury’s shadow to peer directly onto craters that are permanently hidden ...