Astronomy on MSN

April 9, 1959: The Mercury 7 debut

In 1959, having determined that military test pilots would make the best astronauts, NASA began screening the records of 508 ...
Electronic Design

Project Mercury and SpaceShipOne: Two Different Missions that Shaped the Space Race (Part 1)

Although NASA’s Project Mercury and SpaceShipOne served very different objectives, a closer look reveals that both missions were powered by equal parts of competition, innovation, and a strong dose of ...
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OTD in space – March 24: Mercury-Redstone BD rocket launches on uncrewed test flight

On March 24, 1961, NASA's Mercury Redstone rocket launched on its last uncrewed flight before it started sending astronauts into space. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com] The mission ...
Electronic Design

Project Mercury and SpaceShipOne: Two Different Missions that Shaped the Space Race (Part 2)

Part 2 explores the dramatically different approaches to the launch systems, and the surprising similarities in the factors that contributed to their success. Although they served very different ...