America's First Spaceship: Project Mercury (Infographic)

Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist | February 16, 2012 07:06am ET

Take a look at how the first American astronauts flew in space on NASA's Mercury space capsules in this SPACE.com infographic.

The Mercury space capsule was NASA's first manned spaceship and launched the first Americans into orbit in the early 1960s. The one-person spacecraft was used in three suborbital flights and three orbital flights before being replaced by the two-person Gemini capsules. See how the Mercury capsule worked in the SPACE.com Infographic above.

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