Mercury Capsule NASA Spacecraft 1/12 Scale Model Kit Quick Build Freedom 7 Shepard Grissom Glenn MRC

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Project Mercury was NASA's name for our first manned space program, and on May 5, 1961, Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. piloted Freedom 7 to became the first American in space. The other 5 Commanders included Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and John Glenn.

MRC, along with Atomic City Model Engineering recreated a perfect miniature of this aircraft and it's escape tower. Measuring over 2 feet tall, this miniature piece of history is incredibly detailed with attention to detail that will astound you. The Mercury capsule's corrugated exterior is fully covered with rivets, engraved markings and every detail of the original. The interior detail contains the instrumentation along with a vinyl Astronaut figure to add to the realism. The three rocket, red escape tower is there too, and on the original would have rocketed the capsule to safety if there was a problem with the Redstone launch vehicle. Can be displayed in various flight configurations - deployable destabilizer open/closed.

This is an impressive model, and the space modeler can build any one of the six legendary Mercury capsules.

Corrugated exterior covered with rivets and fully engraved markings
Marvelously detailed cockpit interior
Includes escape tower, antenna fairing, recovery compartment, crew cabin, heat shield, vinyl astronaut figure, and retro-pack.
All parts fit together beautifully
Escape Tower is removable
Can be displayed in numerous flight configurations - Deployable Destabilizer Open/Closed
Comes with decals for you to build any one of the 6 legendary Mercury capsules. Including: Aurora 7, Sigma 7, Faith 7, Freedom 7, Liberty Bell 7, and Friendship 7

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted twenty uncrewed developmental flights (some using animals), and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.25 billion adjusted for inflation.[1][n 2] The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.

The Space Race began with the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1. This came as a shock to the American public, and led to the creation of NASA to expedite existing US space exploration efforts, and place most of them under civilian control. After the successful launch of the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958, crewed spaceflight became the next goal. The Soviet Union put the first human, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, into a single orbit aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. Shortly after this, on May 5, the US launched its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, on a suborbital flight. Soviet Gherman Titov followed with a day-long orbital flight in August 1961. The US reached its orbital goal on February 20, 1962, when John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth. When Mercury ended in May 1963, both nations had sent six people into space, but the Soviets led the US in total time spent in space.

The Mercury space capsule was produced by McDonnell Aircraft, and carried supplies of water, food and oxygen for about one day in a pressurized cabin. Mercury 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 Mercury project gained popularity, and its missions were followed by millions on radio and TV around the world. Its success laid the groundwork for Project Gemini, which carried two astronauts in each capsule and perfected space docking maneuvers essential for crewed lunar landings in the subsequent Apollo program announced a few weeks after the first crewed Mercury flight.

Project Mercury was officially approved on October 7, 1958 and publicly announced on December 17.[5][6] Originally called Project Astronaut, President Dwight Eisenhower felt that gave too much attention to the pilot.