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Mercury

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Mercury
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First series of U.S. manned spaceflights (1961 – 63), which began about three weeks after Yury A. Gagarin became the first human in space. In May 1961 Alan B. Shepard rode the first Mercury space capsule, Freedom 7, on a 15-minute, 302-mi (486-km) suborbital flight, attaining a maximum altitude of 116 mi (186 km). The first U.S. manned flight in orbit was that of the Friendship 7, carrying John H. Glenn, Jr., in February 1962; it completed three orbits. The last Mercury flight, Faith 7, launched in May 1963, was the longest, making 22 orbits in about 34 hours.

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mercuro– (prefix)
mercurial
Hg (symbol – in chemistry)

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more