Timeline
| October 1, 1958 | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created |
| October 7, 1958 | NASA formally organized its first "man-in-space program" |
| November 26, 1958 | "Man-in-space program" dubbed "Project Mercury" |
| December 1958 | NASA's selection committee decides the candidate pool for astronaut selection will be from military test pilots |
| December 4, 1959 | Launch of Sam (a monkey) on Little Joe 2 |
| January 1959 | Service records screened of 508 candidates |
| February 1959 | Candidates pared to 110 men |
| March 1959 | More testing of candidates, pool winnowed to 32 men. |
| Late March 1959 | Eighteen men recommended without medical reservation |
| January 31, 1961 | Launch of Ham (a chimpanzee) on Mercury Redstone 2 |
| April 1, 1959 | Selection committee decides on Mercury Seven |
| April 9, 1959 | NASA introduces Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard, and Slayton to the world at press conference |
| January 21, 1960 | Launch of Miss Sam (a monkey) on Little Joe IB |
| May 5, 1961 | Launch of Alan Shepard in Freedom 7, first American human suborbital flight |
| July 21, 1961 | Launch of Gus Grissom in Liberty 7, second American human suborbital flight |
| November 29, 1961 | Launch of Enos (a chimpanzee) on Mercury Atlas 5, an orbital flight |
| January 3, 1962 | Project Gemini formally conceived |
| February 20, 1962 | Launch of John Glenn in Friendship 7, first American human orbital flight |
| May 24, 1962 | Launch of Scott Carpenter in Aurora 7 |
| October 3, 1962 | Launch of Walter Schirra in Sigma 7 |
| May 15, 1963 | Launch of Gordon Cooper in Faith 7, the final mission of Project Mercury |