← Back to launch history

Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 1

Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 1

Status: Failure  |  Launched: Jul 29, 1960 13:13 UTC

Launch Provider & Rocket

Mission

Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9.1 km) and 11,000 feet (3.4 km) down range.

  • Type: Test Flight
  • Orbit: Suborbital (Sub)

Launch Site

  • Pad: Space Launch Complex 14
  • Location: Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
  • View on map

Program

  • Mercury — Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. (Wikipedia)

Launch data sourced automatically from the Launch Library 2 API. Last refreshed: 2026-10-08T01:01:54.797344+00:00.