Project Mercury was NASA’s first human spaceflight program. Designed to compete with the Soviet Union to place a man in Earth orbit and return him safely. The Soviet Union won the initial race on April 12, 1961 by placing Yuri Gagarin into orbit just weeks before the U.S. launched Alan Shepard on a sub-orbital flight, May 5, 1961. The U.S. wouldn’t achieve orbit until February 20, 1962 when John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth.