Mercury-Atlas 2 | |
Insignia: | Mercury insignia.png |
Mission Type: | Test flight |
Operator: | NASA |
Mission Duration: | 17 minutes, 56 seconds |
Distance Travelled: | 1432miles |
Suborbital Apogee: | 114miles |
Spacecraft: | Mercury No.6 |
Manufacturer: | McDonnell Aircraft |
Launch Mass: | 1154kg (2,544lb) |
Launch Date: | UTC |
Launch Rocket: | Atlas LV-3B 67-D |
Launch Site: | Cape Canaveral LC-14 |
Landing Date: | UTC |
Previous Mission: | Mercury-Atlas 1 |
Next Mission: | Mercury-Atlas 3 |
Programme: | Project Mercury Mercury-Atlas series |
Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) was an uncrewed test flight of the Mercury program using the Atlas rocket. It launched on February 21, 1961, at 14:10 UTC, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States.[1]
Test objectives for this flight were concerned with the ability of the spacecraft to withstand reentry under the temperature-critical abort conditions and with the capability of the Atlas to meet the proper injection conditions. Convair had promised to deliver thicker-skinned Atlas vehicles for subsequent flights, however Missile 67D was the last of the thin-skinned model and so it had to be modified for the Mercury mission, incorporating a stainless steel reinforcing band installed around the vehicle between stations 502 and 510. A thin sheet of asbestos was installed between the reinforcing band and the tank skin. This modification was installed as a precaution against the type of failure which had occurred on the previous MA-1 flight. The booster's flight path was also modified somewhat from Mercury-Atlas 1, being placed on a more shallow trajectory so as to reduce aerodynamic loads.
The Atlas lifted into a clear blue February sky quite different from the cloudy, foggy weather of the MA-1 flight. Everyone in the blockhouse waited nervously for the vehicle to pass through the critical max q zone. When it did so successfully, there was "enormous jubilation" from the launch team. MA-2 flew a successful suborbital mission that lasted 17 minutes 56 seconds. Altitude reached was 114miles, speed, 13227mph. All test objectives were fully met, the only problems being a bit of propellant slosh. The capsule was recovered 1432miles downrange. Peak acceleration was 15.9 g (156 m/s²). Mass 1,154 kg.
Mercury spacecraft #6 and Atlas #67-D were used in the Mercury-Atlas 2 mission. The Mercury capsule is currently displayed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX.[2]