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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0222.PDF
Missiles and Spaceflight The Mercury Spacecraft in Detail IN reaching the stage of manned orbital flight, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury pro gramme is estimated to have cost some $400m. Approximately $ 160m of this has gone to the prime spacecraft contractor, McDon nell Aircraft Corp, and this company's subcontractors and suppliers; $95m for the network operations; $85m for boosters, including Atlases, Redstones and Little Joes; $25m for recovery operations and roughly $35m for supporting research in many diverse areas 224 FLIGHT International, 8 February 1962 PITCH WINDOW- tyjg™ HATCH DROGUE CHUTEl •HORIZON SCANNER; AND RESERVE CHUTES ROLL Internal arrangement of the Mercury spacecraft The subject of this article is the end-product of the $160rr. which has gone into the development of the Mercury spacecraft, the thirteenth production model of which is due to carry Lt-Co) John Glenn in a multi-orbital flight from Cape Canaveral later this month. This is the craft in which the Mercury astronauts will have a threefold mission: to evaluate the performance of a man-space craft system; to investigate man's capabilities in the space environ ment; and to obtain the pilot's opinions on the operational suita bility of the spacecraft and supporting systems for manned space- Jlight. NASA's description of the Mercury spacecraft interior is "much like the cockpit of a high-performance airplane—only smaller." The astronaut's instruments are located on a main instrument panel and on left and right consoles, with the main panel directly in front of the pilot. Navigational and control instruments are located on in the left and centre sections of the panel, and the periscope is situated in the centre. The right section of the main panel accom modates environmental system gauges and controls, electrical switches, indicators and communication system controls. The attitude of the spacecraft is changed by the release of short bursts of super-heated steam (hydrogen peroxide) from 18 thrust nozzles located on the conical and cylindrical portions of the skin. Timing and force of these bursts are controlled by one of the following: (1) automatic stabilization and control system (ASCS). which is in effect the Mercury autopilot; (2) rate stabilization and control system (RSCS) or "rate command" system; (3) manual proportional control, a manual-mechanical system, and (4) "Fly- by-wire" (FBW), a manual-electrical system. The left console includes sequencing lights and a warning panel, Communications, telemetry and tracking equipment aboard the Mercury space craft are shown in this NASA diagram COMMAND RECEIVER (B) PILOTS HELMET (HEADSET , AND MICROPHONE) S-BAND BEACON rCOMMAND RECEIVER (A) MAIN HF RECEIVER TRANSMITTER HF DIPLEXER RECOVERY HF RECEIVER TRANSMITTER BACKUP UHF RECEIVER TRANSMITTER MAIN UHF RECEIVER TRANSMITTER C-BAND / BEACON ANTENNA SWITCH ANTENNA MULTIPLEXER- HF/UHF RECOVERY BEACON TELEMETRY TRANSMITTER —TELEMETRY POWER SUPPLY AUDIO CENTER SWITCH-FUSE PANEL MICROPHONE SWITCH CONTROL PANEL C-AND S-BAND ANTENNAS HF RESCUE ANTENNA SYSTEM UHF RESCUE ANTENNA SYSTEM -UMBILICAL f DISCONNECT/ L BK»NICAL- ANTENNA
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