A 60-year-old tribute to America's first human spaceflight program is passing the test of time, but what about the contents of its time capsule not to be opened until 2464?

As soon as the U.S. decided to go ahead with Project Mercury, the first missile-borne man-in-space capsule (TIME, Jan. 26), the Pentagon's IBM machines began sorting through Air Force and Navy ...

On Jan. 9, 1959, NASA selected the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to develop the Mercury spacecraft, which would later carry the first American astronauts into space, Alan Shepard and Virgil ...

Click to open image viewer. CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. The Mercury space capsule carried this device, designed by the Honeywell Corporation, which allowed the astronaut to ...

Related: Project Mercury: America's 1st crewed space program 500 years. Encased in the monument's concrete base is a time capsule containing technical reports, photos, recordings and other ...