Project Mercury Progress, 1960

From the Archives

“Project Mercury Progress, 1960” by George M. Low
Published in Quest Volume: 32 #1 (2025)

Abstract

NASA’s leadership, seven months prior to Yuri Gagarin’s launch, were anticipating that Russia would succeed in launching a human into orbit ahead of any US efforts. To ensure that the media didn’t overreact when it happened, NASA’s Chief of Manned Space Flight, George M. Low addressed the United Press International Editors Conference on 9 September 1960 at the Statler Hotel in Washington DC, providing them a progress report on the Mercury program and why it was important to NASA’s plans for the future—including how the program fit into its plans to visit the Moon and operate a space station. It should also be noted that this address was given while President Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and nearly two months before the election that would send John F. Kennedy to the White House.

Citation

Low, George M. “Project Mercury Progress, 1960.” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 32, no. 1 (2025): 53-59.