Mercury Atlas 1
| Mission dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mission: | Mercury Atlas 1 (MA-1) | ||
| COSPAR-ID : | MERCA1 | ||
| Spacecraft: | Serial number 4 | ||
| Launcher: | Atlas D | ||
| Begin: | July 29, 1960, 13:13 UTC | ||
| Starting place: | LC-14 , Cape Canaveral , Florida | ||
| Landing: | July 29, 1960, 13:16 UTC | ||
| Landing place: | Atlantic | ||
| Flight duration: | 3min 18s | ||
| Earth orbits: | atmospheric flight | ||
| Apogee : | 13 km | ||
| Covered track: | 9.6 km | ||
| Maximum speed: | 2737 km / h | ||
| ◄ Before / After ► | |||
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Mercury Atlas 1 (MA-1) was a suborbital test flight for the Mercury capsule. The rescue missile was not used on this unmanned mission. The capsule had working engines to separate it from the Atlas missile , the re-entry missiles were mock-ups. 58 seconds after take-off, the launcher broke at a height of around 9 km. The rocket and the capsule then hit hard in the Atlantic, whereupon the capsule broke and sank. It was recovered with parts of the rocket and reconstructed for study purposes.
The capsule reached a maximum height of approx. 13 km, its weight was 1,154 kg. The rocket's serial number was Atlas 50-D. The capsule used was named Mercury spacecraft # 4. Portions of the capsule are on view today at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center , Hutchinson , Kansas .
Web links
Mercury-Little-Joe 1 · Mercury-Big-Joe 1 · Mercury-Little-Joe 6 · Mercury-Little-Joe 1A · Mercury-Little-Joe 2 · Mercury-Little-Joe 1B · Mercury-Atlas 1 · Mercury-Little -Joe 5 · Mercury-Redstone 1 · Mercury-Redstone 1A · Mercury-Redstone 2 · Mercury-Atlas 2 · Mercury-Little-Joe 5A · Mercury-Redstone BD · Mercury-Atlas 3 · Mercury-Little-Joe 5B · Mercury- Redstone 3 · Mercury-Redstone 4 · Mercury-Atlas 4 · Mercury-Atlas 5 · Mercury-Atlas 6 · Mercury-Atlas 7 · Mercury-Atlas 8 · Mercury-Atlas 9