Hermes program

The Hermes program, also called Project Hermes, was the first set of manned space missions carried out by the Hollywood Space Administration, running from 1952 to 1958. Earlier missions had managed to put men into space, temporarily and lethally, but the Hermes missions were undertaken with actual intent to send trained astronauts into orbit, as well as return them intact and, if possible, alive.

The program helped to establish much of the HSA's understanding of what could conceivably kill or maim an astronaut. It is best remembered for the Hermes XIV incident of June 1958, which caused the epidemic colloquially referred to as both "space fever" and "moon flu", as well as the first documented murder in space aboard the Hermes V.