page_title: Mercury-Redstone 4
hierarchical_section_title: Mercury-Redstone 4
caption_attribution_description: English: Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom prepares to enter the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft prior to his successful 5,310&#160;mph (8,550&#160;km/h) space ride. He reached an altitude of 118 miles (190&#160;km). This was the second man-in-space flight for the U.S. in its series of suborbital flights by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
context_page_description: Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States human spaceflight, on July 21, 1961. The suborbital Project Mercury flight was launched with a Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, MRLV-8. The spacecraft, Mercury capsule #11, was nicknamed the Liberty Bell 7. It was piloted by astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom.
  The spaceflight lasted 15 minutes 30 seconds, reached an altitude of more than 102.8 nautical miles, and flew 262.5 nautical miles downrange, landing in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight went as expected until just after splashdown, when the hatch cover, designed to release explosively in the event of an emergency, accidentally blew. Grissom was at risk of drowning, but was recovered safely via a U.S. Navy helicopter. The spacecraft sank into the Atlantic and was not recovered until 1999.
context_section_description: Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States human spaceflight, on July 21, 1961. The suborbital Project Mercury flight was launched with a Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, MRLV-8. The spacecraft, Mercury capsule #11, was nicknamed the Liberty Bell 7. It was piloted by astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom.
  The spaceflight lasted 15 minutes 30 seconds, reached an altitude of more than 102.8 nautical miles (190.4 km), and flew 262.5 nautical miles (486.2 km) downrange, landing in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight went as expected until just after splashdown, when the hatch cover, designed to release explosively in the event of an emergency, accidentally blew. Grissom was at risk of drowning, but was recovered safely via a U.S. Navy helicopter. The spacecraft sank into the Atlantic and was not recovered until 1999.
caption: Project Mercury
  Crewed missions
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