Space Facts

Mercury - Apollo Space Facts

Project Mercury

Project Mercury was the first time NASA sent people into space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in 1958 as the American government agency responsible for the country's space programs. It quickly announced its manned (with a human crew inside) spaceflight program to the world, called Project Mercury. While Soviet engineers could rely on massive rockets to go straight to orbit, NASA would have to proceed more slowly. The plan was to develop the program in parts. No one knew how dangerous it was to send an astronaut into space, because no had ever done it before. So NASA tested the Mercury spacecraft thoroughly with a series of unmanned launches and a number of flights with apes rather than people. Less than a month after Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first person in space, Alan Shepherd became the first American in space in the Freedom 7 spacecraft. The Mercury project went on to complete a total of six manned missions.

Gemini Program

Project Gemini was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and sixteen individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966. Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. It performed missions long enough for a trip to the Moon and back, perfected working outside the spacecraft with extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and pioneered the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve space rendezvous and docking. With these new techniques proven by Gemini, Apollo could pursue its prime mission without doing these fundamental exploratory operations.

Apollo Program

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. NASA met that challenge with the Apollo program. It was the first time human beings left Earth orbit and visited another place. The Apollo Program resulted in American astronauts' making a total of 16 spaceflights and walking on the moon six times. The first four Apollo flights tested equipment used in the Apollo Program. Six of the other seven flights landed on the moon. The first Apollo flight happened in 1968. The first moon landing took place in July 1969. The last moon landing was in December 1972. A total of 12 astronauts walked on the moon throughout that time. The astronauts conducted scientific research there. They studied the lunar surface. They collected moon rocks to bring back to Earth. These missions have made it possible to explore more distant places further in the future.

Astronaut Wake Up Songs from

Gemini-Apollo

Wake-up calls are a long-standing NASA tradition. Each day during a mission starting with, Gemini 6 in 1965, Mission Control plays a short recording to start the day's activities. The recordings are selected by flight controllers or by crew members' friends and family members. Most wake up calls are musical, ranging anywhere from College Alma Matter songs to Elvis Presley and Louis Armstrong. To the left, we have a selection of songs Gemini and Apollo Astronauts listened to while in Space.

Eat Like an Astronaut

Mercury

John Glenn was the first American Astronaut to eat in space in 1962. At that time it was not known if the ingestion and absorption of food was possible in zero gravity. Glenn's consumption of applesauce, packed in a tube, and sugar tablets with water, demonstrated that people could eat, swallow, and digest food in a weightless environment.

Mercury space food of the early 1960s was based on Army survival rations, and consisted of pureed food packed into aluminum tubes and sucked through a straw. While Glenn and the other Mercury astronauts experienced no problems in chewing, drinking, swallowing, or digesting this, the food was not considered very delicious.

Gemini

The first time solid food was eaten in space was on Gemini 3. Astronaut John Young carried two meal packages to sample on his 5-hour mission. Gemini food consisted of dehydrated, freeze-dried, and bite-sized foods. These foods were coated with gelatin or oil to prevent crumbling, which could then potentially float away in micro gravity and become lodged in the electronics. On-board hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells provided a source of water that could be used to moisten the dehydrated or freeze-dried foods.

To prepare a freeze-dried meal, the Astronaut would re-hydrated the food using a water gun, injecting cold water into the package. After cutting the package open with scissors, the meal was then ready to eat.

Apollo

Most foods for the Apollo missions were Freeze-dried. Freeze-drying allows foods to keep their nutrition and taste qualities almost indefinitely. They are extremely light and compact and require no refrigeration.

Some of the food on Apollo missions—like cereal and brownie cubes—were eaten without preparation, others needed hot or cold water added to re-hydrate them. Unlike the Gemini program where the water guns only injected cold water for re-hydrating, the Apollo astronauts had the luxury of choosing between hot or cold water. After re-hydration, the food was squeezed strait from the package into the astronaut's mouth. After the food was eaten, a small tablet was inserted into the package to kill bacteria.

Popular Snacks

M&Ms
Chocolate
Apple Sauce
Powdered Orange Juice (Tang)
Chocolate Pudding

Things We Wouldn't Have Without