Re: MA-1 Capsule Reassembled After Explosion GPN-2002-000043.jpg (1/2)

[Glenn Jacobs]

I don't remember any explosions during Mercury. Of course I was in Alaska
tracking spie satellites and didn't always get the news.

Could someone fill me in a little.

Thanks, jakeInHartsel

[William R Thompson]

"Glenn Jacobs" wrote:

>I don't remember any explosions during Mercury. Of course I was in Alaska
> tracking spy satellites and didn't always get the news.

> Could someone fill me in a little.

Mercury-Atlas 1 was an unmanned test flight in the summer of 1960.
It was a suborbital launch and didn't include the usual Mercury
escape tower (which was still undergoing development).

The Atlas exploded about one minute into the launch. The spacecraft
came through the explosion in relatively good shape, but its control
system hadn't been programmed to deploy the parachute under these
conditions.

I think the booster's problem was traced to a general weakness in the
junction between the booster and the capsule's adapter; the original Atlas
wasn't designed to support the weight of a Mercury capsule. (I don't know
how that problem was handled for the early Atlas-Agena boosters, but
the Mercury Atlases has a "horse collar" layer of steel added to the
booster's
upper section.)

--Bill Thompson