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Sy HOWARD BENEDICTCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -Pfe , JjCt Mercury—named fbt - a Winged-footed Roman god—both ftet lift * bed of taieksoftd. 'Mercury's seven astronauts are trained, prtawid; and eager. :.t6 rocket into' apace.'-SUt their spacecraft isn’t :A- series * of disastrous lauttehlng failures pis put,the program months behind schedule. A timetable, laid down only Six months age, united for-the'first •itfdtteii to be ladnohed on a ballistic flight aver the AUahtie last October, with a manned orbit shot sehednied for mid* 1961,j It nov appear s that the first ballistic night will be delayer until March or April and the orbit attempt until late next year or' early In .1962Critics contend the delay® are plunging this country toward a new huhulia* tion in the apses rne* with Russia.Alarm has Spread to Congress The House Science and Astronautics Committal has promised an investigation in January.After more than a year of planningadd testing boiler-plate moekups, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) came up last May with what it considered the final production capsule. The first launching—involving only the spacecraft and the rocket escape tower— was a success and the space agency set an ambitious firing schedule,.Eight more launchings, using Redstone, Atlas and Little Joe booster codkets, were slitter! before the end of i960. These included hurling a chimpanzee and then an astronaut an Redstone-propelled ballisticflights. ;Only three of these have been attempted. All failed.On July 29, a capsule-carrying Atlas exploded 66 seconds after lifting off from Cape Canaveral. A hunk of capsule reportedly broke loose and Sliced into the Atlas fuel tanks.On Nov. 6, a capsule failed to separate from a tittle Joe at 'Wallops Island, Va. Purpose of the flight was to test the capsule escape system Under extreme conditions.On Nov. 21, firing of a Redstone, cupped , by a capsule, fizzled due to aLags Behind Schedulefaulty connection,This Redstone whs to have, boosted the spacecraft 130 miles into space and 220 miles down - the Atlantic missile range. One any before, Dr. T. Keith Gtlennan, NASA director, predicted an astronaut would make an identical trip In January or February. After the failure, NASA said W would only delay the schedule a matter of weeks.On the Redstone fligh,t the astronaut will endure B’A minutes of weightlessness and forces ix and 11 times the pull of gravity during blastoff and re-entry respectively. Temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit will build up on. the capsule surface, but the pilot will be comfortable in his air-conditioned sealed chamber.On launching, th: astronaut will be flat on his back, his: knees drawn up. In rapid sequence, at 36 miles altitude about 140 aaconds after launch, (1) the Redstone will burn out and separate from the spacecraft, (2) the escape tower-will be jettisoned, and (3) small rockets at the base of the capsule will fire tomI IV’ Skiauipush the, draft ahead and away from the booster.About five seconds After separation, an automatic stabilisation and control system will awing the capsule around 18® degrees so the Muuf base will be In a forward position. The base is covered with a heat shield, The pilot now will bo sitting upright, hi® back toward the direction he is traveling.As the vehicle reaches a peak altitude of 130 miles, three retrorockets, attached to the heat Shield, ignite and slow it. letting gravity assert itself by pulling th# craft back toward earth. As the man plunge; downward he will reach peak speed of 4,000 miles an hour.The speed will start to diminish as the capsule encounters atmospheric friction at a height of about 50 miles At 42,000 feet, a 8-foot-wide drogue parachute will pop out to help slow the sneed to about 800 miles an hour. Then at 10,00ft feet, a 63-foot-wids main chute will ease the capsule into the ocean, landing it with the force of a man stepping off a 14-foot wall.J.. n .?____
Newspaper Details
Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Sun, Dec 11, 1960
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Marc H.
VA, USA 06 Oct 2024
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