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Redstone MRLV | Mercury-Redstone 3

Redstone MRLV | Mercury-Redstone 3

Status: Success  |  Launched: May 05, 1961 14:34 UTC

Launch Provider & Rocket

Mission

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first manned flight of Project Mercury, the objective of which was to put an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

  • Type: Human Exploration
  • Orbit: Suborbital (Sub)

Launch Site

  • Pad: Launch Complex 5
  • Location: Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
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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: 2026-10-07T05:01:38.698063+00:00.