The two-man flights of Project Gemini (1965-1966) followed NASA's Mercury program, which launched astronauts in one-man capsules.
The Mercury Program was the first manned space flight program,
The project's name had nothing to do with the planet Mercury. At the time, the United States was in a race with the Soviet Union to put a man into space orbit first; Mercury is the Roman God most often associated with speed, and speed was the impetus for the competition.
From NASA's publication Origin of NASA NamesAPOLLO. In July 1960 NASA was preparing to implement its long-range plan beyond Project Mercury and to introduce a manned circumlunar mission project-then unnamed-at the NASA/Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington. Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury.1 Apollo was god of archery, prophecy, poetry, and music, and most significantly he was god of the sun. In his horse-drawn golden chariot, Apollo pulled the sun in its course across the sky each day.2 NASA approved the name and publicly announced "Project Apollo" at the July 28-29 conference.3
Excerpts from Origins of NASA Names (see links below)MERCURYTraditionally depicted wearing a winged cap and winged shoes, Mercury was the messenger of the gods in ancient Roman and (as Hermes) Greek mythology. 1 The symbolic associations of this name appealed to Abe Silverstein, NASA's Director of Space Flight Development, who suggested it for the manned spaceflight project in the autumn of 1958. On 26 November 1958 Dr. T. Keith Glennan, NASA Administrator, and Dr. HughGEMINI"Gemini," meaning "twins" in Latin, was the name of the third constellation of the zodiac, made up of the twin stars Castor and Pollux. To Nagy it seemed an appropriate connotation for the two-man crew, a rendezvous mission, and the project's relationship to Mercury. Another connotation of the mythological twins was that they were considered to be the patron gods of voyagers.3 The nomination was selected from several made in NASA Headquarters, including "Diana," "Valiant," and "Orpheus"....APOLLOIn July 1960 NASA was preparing to implement its long-range plan beyond Project Mercury and to introduce a manned circumlunar mission project-then unnamed-at the NASA/Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington. Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury.1 Apollo was god of archery, prophecy, poetry, and music, and most significantly he was god of the sun. In his horse-drawn golden chariot, Apollo pulled the sun in its course across the sky each day.2 NASA approved the name and publicly announced "Project Apollo" at the July 28-29 conference.
The NASA project that put a man on the moon was called the Apollo program. It consisted of a series of manned space missions, with Apollo 11 being the mission that successfully landed astronauts on the moon in 1969.
Redstone.
Mercury
The Mercury Program was the first manned space flight program,
'MESSENGER' is the Mercury Mission - See the related link listed below for more information:
The Apollo spacecraft were not America's first craft.From NASA's publication Origin of NASA NamesAPOLLO. In July 1960 NASA was preparing to implement its long-range plan beyond Project Mercury and to introduce a manned circumlunar mission project-then unnamed-at the NASA/Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington. Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury.1 Apollo was god of archery, prophecy, poetry, and music, and most significantly he was god of the sun. In his horse-drawn golden chariot, Apollo pulled the sun in its course across the sky each day.2 NASA approved the name and publicly announced "Project Apollo" at the July 28-29 conference.3
Messenger : (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a space-probe sent to the planet Mercury .
The project's name had nothing to do with the planet Mercury. At the time, the United States was in a race with the Soviet Union to put a man into space orbit first; Mercury is the Roman God most often associated with speed, and speed was the impetus for the competition.
Mercury was the name of the first American Space program started by NASA. The goals were to see if humans can go to space and function normaly.
The name for the early spaceflight programs were chosen by the NASA managers in charge. Abe Silverstein is credited with naming Apollo, after the Greek god of light and music, mainly because he thought of it as bringing the "light of knowledge" to man.The USSR space program was more straightforward in their Moon probes, naming them Luna (Lunik).
From NASA's publication Origin of NASA NamesAPOLLO. In July 1960 NASA was preparing to implement its long-range plan beyond Project Mercury and to introduce a manned circumlunar mission project-then unnamed-at the NASA/Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington. Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury.1 Apollo was god of archery, prophecy, poetry, and music, and most significantly he was god of the sun. In his horse-drawn golden chariot, Apollo pulled the sun in its course across the sky each day.2 NASA approved the name and publicly announced "Project Apollo" at the July 28-29 conference.3
Excerpts from Origins of NASA Names (see links below)MERCURYTraditionally depicted wearing a winged cap and winged shoes, Mercury was the messenger of the gods in ancient Roman and (as Hermes) Greek mythology. 1 The symbolic associations of this name appealed to Abe Silverstein, NASA's Director of Space Flight Development, who suggested it for the manned spaceflight project in the autumn of 1958. On 26 November 1958 Dr. T. Keith Glennan, NASA Administrator, and Dr. HughGEMINI"Gemini," meaning "twins" in Latin, was the name of the third constellation of the zodiac, made up of the twin stars Castor and Pollux. To Nagy it seemed an appropriate connotation for the two-man crew, a rendezvous mission, and the project's relationship to Mercury. Another connotation of the mythological twins was that they were considered to be the patron gods of voyagers.3 The nomination was selected from several made in NASA Headquarters, including "Diana," "Valiant," and "Orpheus"....APOLLOIn July 1960 NASA was preparing to implement its long-range plan beyond Project Mercury and to introduce a manned circumlunar mission project-then unnamed-at the NASA/Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington. Abe Silverstein, Director of Space Flight Development, proposed the name "Apollo" because it was the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology with attractive connotations and the precedent for naming manned spaceflight projects for mythological gods and heroes had been set with Mercury.1 Apollo was god of archery, prophecy, poetry, and music, and most significantly he was god of the sun. In his horse-drawn golden chariot, Apollo pulled the sun in its course across the sky each day.2 NASA approved the name and publicly announced "Project Apollo" at the July 28-29 conference.
The NASA craft currently orbiting Mercury is called the MESSENGER spacecraft. It was launched in 2004 and entered orbit around Mercury in 2011 to study the planet's composition, geology, and magnetic field.