Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle

Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle
Mercury-Redstone 2 launch carrying Ham, a chimpanzee, on 31 January 1961.
FunctionHuman-rated sub-orbital launch vehicle
ManufacturerChrysler Corporation
Country of originUnited States
Size
Height25.41 m (83.38 ft)
Diameter1.78 m (5.83 ft)
Mass30,000 kg (66,000 lb)
Stages1
Capacity
Payload to sub-orbital trajectory
Mass1,800 kg (4,000 lb)
Launch history
StatusRetired
Launch sitesLaunch Complex 5, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Total launches6
Success(es)5
Failure(s)1
First flight21 November 1960
Last flight21 July 1961
Type of passengers/cargoMercury spacecraft
Single stage
Powered by1 Rocketdyne A-7
Maximum thrust350 kN (78,000 lbf)
Specific impulse215 s (2.11 km/s)
Burn time143.5 s
PropellantLOX/ethyl alcohol

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American crewed space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–1961; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space. The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit.

A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the U.S. Army's Redstone ballistic missile and the first stage of the related Jupiter-C launch vehicle; but to human-rate it, the structure and systems were modified to improve safety and reliability.