NASA's Mercury astronauts were seven highly skilled professional test pilots. Each of them seemed to possess the strength of character and commitment necessary to overcome apparently insurmountable ...

The known and unknown perils of space stayed their hand last week as the U.S. shot a second man into space with almost clockwork success. What made the second flight less successful than the first ...

The second Mercury mission was going according to plan until the Liberty Bell 7 capsule sank in the ocean. NASA exonerated astronaut Gus Grissom,... Anyone who's seen the 1983 film The Right Stuff ...

Sixty years ago this week, America sent its second man into space. The mission had gone flawlessly, but nearly ended in tragedy when the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury space capsule sank into the sea, almost ...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KWCH) - Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the Liberty Bell Seven crash. The capsule’s 15-minute and 37-second flight ended with a splash in the Atlantic Ocean. Gus Grissom was ...

The myth that a pioneering astronaut lost his nerve at the end of his first journey to space 60 years ago — which led to the loss of his spacecraft and his near drowning — stains the histo ...