Mercury-Atlas was a subprogram of
Project Mercury
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
that included most of the flights and tests using the
Atlas LV-3B
The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by Convair, it w ...
launch vehicle. The Atlas was also used for one Mercury flight under the
Big Joe subprogram.
The Mercury mission numbering system was: a two-letter designation marking the launch vehicle type, followed by a dash, then a number designating the flight/test number. The Atlas launch vehicles used for Project Mercury were given a two- or three-digit number followed by a "-D", indicating that they were the "D" version of the Atlas.
The missions flown in Mercury-Atlas were:
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MA-1 using Atlas launch vehicle "50-D"
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MA-2 using Atlas launch vehicle "67-D"
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MA-3 using Atlas launch vehicle "100-D"
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MA-4 using Atlas launch vehicle "88-D"
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MA-5 using Atlas launch vehicle "93-D"
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MA-6 using Atlas launch vehicle "109-D"
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MA-7 using Atlas launch vehicle "107-D"
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MA-8 using Atlas launch vehicle "113-D"
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MA-9 using Atlas launch vehicle "130-D"
{{NASA space program
Project Mercury