Applications could include large space-station modules , military payloads , and advanced interplanetary probes (Shipman 32 . NASA 's first high pro program was Project Mercury , an effort to learn if humans could survive in space (Shipman 2 . It was the prelude to the later missions , and it gave NASA the necessary data to build better , and more comfortable ships for humans to stay in space for extended periods of time . The first launch of the Mercury program was the LJ-1 on August...