Mercury 3
| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission Name: | Mercury MR-3 |
| Call Sign: | Freedom 7 |
| Number of Crew Members: | 1 |
| Launch: | May 5, 1961 14:34 UTC Cape Canaveral Complex 5 |
| Landing: | May 5, 1961 14:49:28 UTC |
| Duration: | 15 minutes, 28 seconds |
| Number of Orbits: | None |
Mercury 3 was a U.S Mercury program manned space mission launched on May 5, 1961 using a Redstone rocket. The Mercury capsule was named "Freedom 7" and performed a suborbital flight, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Shepard became the first astronaut to return to Earth with his ship as the Russian cosmonauts had to parachute away from theirs during landing.
The flight lasted 15 minutes, and the spacecraft traveled 300 miles from its launch point, ascending over 100 miles.
 Launch of the Mercury-Redstone 3 spacecraft on May 5, 1961, 9:34 a.m. EST, with Alan Shepard onboard |
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