Project Adam

Before the Mercury program there was Man-In-Space-Soonest, the US Air Force's program to get an astronaut in space before the Soviets. Competing with MISS was the less well-known Project Adam, von Braun's proposal to have the Army launch an astronaut in 1958. Von Braun wanted to launch quickly and cheaply. His plan was to modify the gondola used for Project Manhigh's high-altitude balloon flights for the space environment and launch it onboard a Redstone rocket. The astronaut would be in space for 6 minutes. Ultimately, NACA was unimpressed. Spaceflight wasn't just about competition, it was about science as well. Hugh Dryden testified to congress that the plan had "the same technical value as the circus stunt of shooting a young lady from a cannon." The Air Force program was also scuttled, with the first crewed spaceflight falling under the newly formed NASA. Project Adam wasn't a total dead end though: Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 was launched atop a Redstone rocket. More details: astronautix.com/a/adam.html