NASA Space Center Houston

Few things have fascinated people and captured their imaginations so completely
as the heavens above us. The relative tranquility of those twinkling stars has
dazzled man since the beginning of time. What's up there? has been the million
dollar question for as long as recorded history can tell. Science has shown us in
recent years in brilliant color that those stars are anything but tranquil. That the
universe is a living and very active place where what you know today will always
be replaced by what you may think tomorrow. It is the greatest mystery of all
time, and in light of all the knowledge that science and technology has brought us
about "out there" we can say for certain one thing. We don't know anything. So
why would we continue to try you might wonder? Just ask any kid who lies on
his back in his (or her !) backyard during the Summer when the lightening bugs
are out on a cool clear night. Watch him put his hand in the air, and zoom it
around like a space shuttle. Watch the twinkling reflections of stars in his eyes.
He'll tell you that its worth it. It's worth everything.

Project Mercury began in 1958, just one year after the Soviet Union (Russia) launched Sputnik I. Mercury I, America's first
manned space flight took place on May 5, 1961. Alan Shephard was the first American in Space. His flight lasted only 15
minutes. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Gemini came after Mercury in 1962. It was
designed to teach the astronauts how to dock, land and to practice other things that would be necessary for a moon landing.
The Apollo missions came next.