Mercury program
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The first United States suborbital flight was made by Alan Shepard in 1961.
In 1962, John Glenn made the first orbital flight by an American astronaut.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There would be three more missions in the one-manned Mercury program, culminating in Gordon Cooper's Faith 7 mission, which completed 22 Earth orbits.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2023
New Shepard is named for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, who flew on a suborbital trajectory during the Mercury program in 1961.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2021
New Shepard, which cannot be piloted from inside the spacecraft, is named for Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became the first American in space during a suborbital flight as part of NASA’s pioneering Mercury program.
From Reuters ● Jul. 18, 2021
The fame the young airman from Ohio gained from the record-setting flight helped land him a spot in NASA’s Mercury program.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2018
In Ithaca, New York, Hugh had turned to the Mercury program late, too.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
