"...One of the most complex tasks ever presented to man in this country ··· the achievement of manned flight in orbit around the earth." - John F. Kennedy, thirty-fifth president of the United States. This marker commemorates the national aeronautics and space administration's project mercury, which first put free men into space. The four manned orbital capsules were boosted into space by atlas rockets, which were launched by the united states air force from complex 14, located 2200 feet east of here at 28° 29' 27.1428" north latitude and 80° 32' 49.6107 west longitude. Contained in a capsule herein to be opened in the year 2464 a.D. Are technical reports of these flights. Dedicated 1964 a.D., to the thousands of men and women of the free world who contributed to the success of Project Mercury. "si monumentum requiris circumspice" anon.