Project Mercury will pave the way for manned spaceflight. This 1960s documentary gives an overview of the research and development of the Mercury spacecraft and its Atlas launch vehicle. Topics covered include: graphics of the proposed mission; development and testing of the various components of the rocket; astronaut selection and training [including zero-G parabolic flights, centrifuge training]; various tracking stations and monitoring consoles; free-fall drop testing of the re-entry module; flight testing of the prototype spacecraft - launch, search and recovery; Little Joe solid propellant research and development launch vehicle; Mercury/Atlas test launches; launch photography from Little Joe.