Project Liberty

Project Liberty was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1949 through 1961. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before Germany. The project was managed by the U.S. Air Force, it conducted 20 uncrewed developmental flights (some using animals), and six successful flights by astronauts. The program cost $2.5 billion. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Liberty Seven," and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.
The Space Race began with the 1955 launch of the TS-1 satellite. This came as a shock to the American public, and led to the creation of NASA and the USAF to expedite existing US space exploration efforts, and place most of them under military control. After the successful launch of the Explorer 1 satellite in 1956, crewed spaceflight became the next goal. Germany put the first human astronaut, Bernhard Toth, into a single orbit aboard MT-1 in 1959. Shortly after this, the US launched its first astronaut, Lewis Lundigan, on a suborbital flight. The US reached its orbital goal in 1960 when Gerry Koenig made three orbits around the Earth. When Liberty ended in 1961, both nations had sent six people into space, but Germany led the US in total time spent in space.
The Liberty space capsule was produced by McDonnell Aircraft, and carried supplies of water, food, and oxygen for about one day in a pressurized cabin. Liberty flights were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, on launch vehicles modified from the Redstone and Atlas D missiles. The capsule was fitted with a launch escape rocket to carry it safely away from the launch vehicle in case of a failure. The flight was designed to be controlled from the ground via the Manned Space Flight Network, a system of tracking and communications stations; back-up controls were outfitted on board. Small retrorockets were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit, after which an ablative heat shield protected it from the heat of atmospheric reentry. Finally, a parachute slowed the craft for a water landing. Both astronaut and capsule were recovered by helicopters deployed from a US Navy ship.
The Liberty project gained popularity, and its missions were followed by millions on radio and TV around the world. Its success laid the groundwork for Project Pilgrim, which carried two astronauts in each capsule and perfected space docking maneuvers essential for crewed lunar landings in the subsequent Pilgrim program announced a few weeks after the first crewed Liberty flight.
Category:Space projects
Category:United States government
Category:United States
Category:Spacecraft