From missile to America’s first orbital flights
Early Atlas rockets developed from an intercontinental missile first tested in 1957. Mercury-Atlas gave the Mercury capsule enough energy to circle Earth.
Unlike Redstone, Atlas reached orbital speed. John Glenn consequently became the first American in orbit in February 1962.
The family also evolved with Agena and Centaur upper stages to launch satellites and probes. Atlas V represents a substantially different generation, described in its own profile.
Selected representative missions; crew names belong to the flight shown.
Glenn completed three circuits of Earth aboard Friendship 7.
Cooper flew the last Mercury mission, completing twenty-two orbits and spending more than a day in flight.
Dates follow the days reported by the source agencies, generally in local time; the UTC day can differ. Crews belong to the selected missions, not every flight in the family.
Atlas demonstrates the transformation of military technology into scientific and space transportation systems.
First flight or first test of the family, including unsuccessful or suborbital attempts.
