NEWS
RELEASE
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
1520
H
STREET, NORTHWEST
'
WASHINGTON
25.
D.
C.TELEPHONES: DUDLEY 2-6325
.
EXECUTIVE
3-3260
Cape Canaveral Press Room
SUNSET
3-7626April 26,
1961
NOTE
TO
EDITORS:Enclosed
is
a
press
kit detailing the
first
m
nned Mercurysub-orbital launch, Mercury-Redstone
3.
fx
?%~-*reTFaXE*~aTI
mvr-mebla no
ealier
than
PM's
Saturday,
April
29,
1961.
The material%f
in
The kit contains eleven sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mercury Redstone
3.
Astronaut Observations and Control Tasks During Manned MercuryFlightPilot Preparation for
the
MR-3
Flight.
MR-3
Inside the Pilots Cabin.Mercury Redstone Launch Vehicle.Mercury
MR-3
Recovery Operations.Project Mercury
-
A
Progress Report.
"IF"
A
StudyofContingency Planning for the Project Mercury
Mission,
Mercury Redstone Abort.
10.
Astronaut Biographies,
11.
Astronaut Training Program Summary.
0.
B.
LloydDirector, Office
of
Public
.
...
,
NEWS
RELEASE
NATIONAL
AERONAUTCSAND
SPACE
ADMINISTRATION
IS20H
STREET,
NORTHWEST
.
WASHINGTON
25.
D.
C.
TELEPHONES:
DUOLEY
2-6325
.
EXECUTIVE
3-3260
RELEASE
NO,
61-88
In the next week
OF
so,
the Project Mercury's thirdHedstone launch will take place at Cape Canaveral. In thisconnection, James
E.
Webb, Administrator
of
National Aeronauticsand Space Administration, stated:manus articipation in the exploration
of
space by our firstascronaut,
The
upcoming Mercury-Redstone flight is a mostimportant step in the
16.
S,
program
-
a step that will leadon to manps ltimate conquest of this new and hostileenvironment. It is also
a
most serious step; for it cannot
be
taken without risk
to
human life.
It
is the kind of risk thatLindbergh
tosk
when
he
crossed the Atlantic, that Chuck Yeagertook in
the
X-1's
first
supersonic flight, and test pilotsScott
Crossfield,
Joe Walker, and
Bob
White have taken in theirflights
in
the
X-15
airplane,precaution
has
been taken
to
minimize this risk.that ha8 worked
so
hard
to
bring this day about.making this
flight,
let
me
say 'Godspeed'.
''Our
NationQs space program will soon enter a new era
-
''1
am, confident that in Project Mercury
every
reasonable
"My
very best
wishes
%OF
success
to
to the Mercury
team
''To
a11
the astronauts who volunteered and to the one
II
Mercury8s first manned apace flight is to take placeapproximately one hour after daybreak at Cape Canaveral,Florida, after
a
2-day countdown operation. Maximum hold timeon any given day will
be
5
hours. The flight may
be
postponedfromi day
to
day fQP
5
days.
The one-ton-plus spacecraft, boosted by a modified
Redstone
launch
vehicle,
will
follow
a
ballistic
arc
with
a
range
of
290
statute miles and
8
maximum altitude
of
115
statute miles, The flight time
-
lift-off to splash
-
will
be
about
15
minutes.
Primary mission
test
objectives include:
1.
Familiarizing
a
man
with
a
brief
but completespace flight experience including lift-off",powered flight,weightless
flight,
entry and landing
phases
of space flight.
2.
Evaluating man's ability to perform useful func-tions during space
flight
by
(a)
demonstrating manual controlof the spacecraft attitude before, during and after retrofireand
(b)
using voice communications during flight.
3.
Studying manos physiological reaction duringspace flight,General objectives include
the
continued qualification
of
the
Mercury spacecraft and
its
systems for manned flight,and to provide
training
for
ground
support and recoveryforces for future manned
flights,
During
the
flight
the
pilot
will
be
subjected to approximately
"6g"
through
the
powered portion of the flight, approximately
5
minutes ofweightlessness after separation from the launch vehicle andapproximately llg during reentry into
the
earth's
atmosphere,
The
spacecraft which stands about
9
feet
high
and
6
feetacross
its
blunt
base
will
be launched vertically on
a
path
slightly
south of east,
Here
is
the
noma1
OF
planned mission profile: TheRedstone engine
will
be
shut
down about two and
a
half
minutes
after
lift-off when the vehicle
has
achieved
a
speed of about4500
miles
per hour in
a
climbing attitude about
40
degreesabove
the
horizontal,
At
engine cutoff, the escape towerclamp ring
is
separated and both the escape rocket and towerjettison rocket
are
fired
to
remove the tower.Ten seconds
after
engine cutoff,
a
clwp
ring securingbooster and spacecraft
will
be
separated.
Three
350-pound-thrust solid propellant rockets
at
the
base
of the spacecraft
will
be
fired
to
separate
the spacecraft from the launchvehicle.Thepilotts periscope
is
then extended.
At
the
same
time,
the autopilot swings the spacecraft around so
the
blunt end
is
forward and tilted slightly upward,
14.5
degrees
above
the
horizontal,
the
same
position the craft
is
tomaintain
in
orbital
flights,
Thirty seconds before the
craft
reaches peak altitude,
the
astronaut
will
manually controlthe attitude
sf
the craft moving
it
into setrosocket
firing
position
-
34
degrees
above horizontal
-
and
will
hold
this
MR-3
1-2
Search History:
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p.
NASA Mercury-Redstone 3 - Freedom 7 Press Kit
NASA Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) - Freedom 7 Press Kit for the first U.S. manned suborbital Project Mercury mission. Issued by NASA in April 1961.
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