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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1239.PDF
FLIGHT, 5 August 1960 .. summit meeting in Paris earlier this year confirmed NASA's worstfears Until then the Russians had coyly refused to talk about their man-in-space programme and even had displayed a lack ofinterest in such a project. Many in the US associated with space research believe the Russians will try to put a man into orbitaround the Earth before the American elections take place in 1 NASA was but four days old when it undertook Project Mer- cury in 1958. Soon it had put out requests for quotation toindustry to come forth with ideas for a suitable space capsule, and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St Louis won the award.Farsightedly, McDonnell Aircraft had seen the need for such a capsule much earlier and had completed extensive study anddesign work in advance. The capsule for Project Mercury is shaped something like ahuge television tube, with a large, blunt end that must take the heat that develops during the re-entry phase of the mission. Thisblunt nose is covered with a resinous material embedded in glass- fibre During re-entry it will encounter temperatures as high as 2 600° F, and under this hot blast the material will slowly One shot of the Mercury capsule with an astronaut aboard willbe made later this year. It will be only a ballistic trajectory shot, however, and the astronaut should be recovered 200 miles downthe Atlantic Missile Range. Several test shots have been made, including one very successful shot of a complete capsule with amonkey as its occupant. This was carried out at NASA's Wallops Island facility, and the capsule was carried aloft by a Little Joesolid-propellant booster. The shot went off well and the monkey was recovered hale and hearty.A second similar shot is to be made in the fourth quarter of this year, and then, finally, a manned ballistic trajectory shot.The actual firing of the latter will take place at Cape Canaveral and a Redstone booster will be used. Additional sub-orbital shots are scheduled in 1961 using Red-stones. Two are lined up for the first quarter of next year, three for the second quarter, two in the third and, finally, one in thefourth quarter. Two sub-orbital Atlas-boosted firings of Mercury capsules also are scheduled for the first quarter of 1961. Some ofthe sub-orbital shots will be used to give all seven of the Mercury astronauts an opportunity to be checked out in a space capsule.NASA is trying to make certain that the Mercury flights will be no more dangerous to the astronauts than if they were testingexperimental aircraft. Each man is a qualified military test pilot with jet credentials and 1,500 hours or more of flight time. Eachis an engineer, less than 40 years of age, and none is taller than 5ft 7in.When NASA issued its call for potential astronauts, more than 100 young men responded. Of these, 69 were interviewed, and32 were chosen for a series of tests involving both physical and mental capabilities. Seven were selected, and the judges dis-played their keen appreciation of inter-Service rivalry in the US by selecting three from the Air Force and the same numberfrom the Navy. The seventh is a Marine. The Army is not represented, presumably because it is restricted with respect toaviation and does not have pilots who could meet all the qualifi- cations—especially the jet-pilot requirement.The youngest astronaut is 33, the oldest 39, and all are married and fathers of at least one child. Training is rigorous at theLangley Research Center near Hampton, Virginia. The seven men must learn what to expect in space both in theory and prac- These two illustrations (J*> Time Inc. 1960. Outside USA and Canada £: international Co-operation Press Service Inc. 1960 tice—or as much of the latter as can be duplicated. As a result,they have been strapped into centrifuges to reproduce the g forces they will encounter during launching and from deceleration (upto 11 times body weight) during re-entry. They experience weightlessness by riding jet aircraft put through an over-the-toparc, and they gain the experience of tumbling in space by riding a Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF) installedat the Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. This bizarre device simulates a three-dimensional whirligig to reproduce Mer-cury control problems. An astronaut learns to control the action of the MASTIF chair by adjusting the small levers of the side-arm controller at his fingertips. Similar controls will be used aboard the Mercury capsule. The Redstone booster that will put an astronaut into a ballisticflight from Cape Canaveral later this year will carry him to an altitude of 125 miles. He will achieve a speed of 1,600 miles perhour in the first five minutes, and will be let down 16.5min later in the ocean about 200 miles downrange. For safety during launching, Mercury has a specially designedescape device attached to the small end of the capsule. Its basic feature is a rocket that can be ignited to lift the capsule free ofthe booster and let it down by parachute in the event of the booster failing during launch. This escape procedure has beentested many times, once with a specially trained monkey, and has worked well. Inside the capsule, the astronaut is shielded from heat, coldand noise by a double wall. The outer shell consists of heat- resistant cobalt steel, the inner shell is titanium, and there isheavy insulation between. Redstone will achieve burnout in two minutes and, at an alti-tude of 45 miles five seconds later, Mercury will separate from its booster. First, the escape device on the front of the capsulewill be fired free. Then separation rockets mounted to the blunt or seat end of Mercury will be fired to effect separation betweenthe capsule and booster. The arrangement is such that the cap- sule is shot slightly to one side as well as forward of the path ofthe booster lumbering along behind. Small jets then take over automatically to turn the capsule sothat the blunt end is forward and ready to absorb the heat of re-entry. These same jets, working automatically and employinghydrogen peroxide as propellant, are used to control roll, pitch and yaw. The astronaut can override the automatic controls, how-ever, by taking over manually during the descent if he needs to do so. The separation rockets will become retro-rockets when theblunt end of Mercury has been turned forward, and they will be fired to slow down the capsule and cause it to re-enter the Right, disorientation tests in the Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility at Lewis Re- search Center form part of the Project Mercury man - in - space pro- gramme. Below, one of the Mercury astronauts familiarizes himself with capsule and "cockpit"
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