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The Mercury-Atlas rocket booster was a launch vehicle used by NASA during the early years of the Space Race. It was a two-stage rocket that helped launch the first Americans into space as part of Project Mercury. The Mercury-Atlas booster was instrumental in achieving key milestones in the early days of human spaceflight, including the first American orbital flights.
The United States launched its first space rocket in January 1961. The rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The structure that supports a rocket before launch is called a launch pad. It provides a stable platform for the rocket to stand on and facilitates the safe ignition and liftoff of the rocket.
The first moon landing rocket that brought humans to the moon was Apollo 11, with all the flights before like Apollo 10, including the Gemini and Mercury Projects being test flights leading up to this one. The rocket was able to successfully land Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon and bring them back.
A Redstone rocket launched Alan Shepard's Mercury capsule into space on May 5, 1961. His flight lasted15 minutes 22 seconds. He reached an altitude of 116.5 miles.