Mercury program
A program of rocket-powered flights undertaken by the United States with the goal of putting a man in orbit around the Earth. Each Mercury flight carried one astronaut. The program ran from 1961 to 1963 and was named after the Roman god Mercury, the messenger of the gods.
Note: The first United States suborbital flight was made by Alan Shepard in 1961.
Note: In 1962, John Glenn made the first orbital flight by an American astronaut.
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noun, Chemistry. 1. . noun, Chemistry. 1. a crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous compound, HgS, occurring as a coarse, black powder (black mercuric sulfide) or as a fine, bright-scarlet powder (red mercuric sulfide) used chiefly as a pigment and as a source of the free metal.
- Mercury-switch
noun, Electricity. 1. an especially quiet switch that opens and closes an electric circuit by shifting a vial containing a pool of mercury so as to cover or uncover the contacts. noun 1. (electrical engineering) a switch in which a circuit is completed between two terminals by liquid mercury when the switch is tilted noun […]
- Mercury-vapor lamp
[mur-kyuh-ree-vey-per] /ˈmɜr kyə riˌveɪ pər/ noun, Electricity. 1. a lamp producing a light with a high actinic and ultraviolet content by means of an electric arc in mercury vapor.
- Mercury-vapour lamp
noun 1. a lamp in which an electric discharge through a low pressure of mercury vapour is used to produce a greenish-blue light. It is used for street lighting and is also a source of ultraviolet radiation
- Mercy flight
noun 1. an aircraft flight to bring a seriously ill or injured person to hospital from an isolated community