Mercury-Redstone BD

Mission dates

Mission:

Mercury-Redstone BD (MR-BD)

COSPAR-ID :

MERCRBD

Launcher:

Redstone Mercury , serial number MRLV-5

Begin:

March 24, 1961, 17:30 UTC

Starting place:

LC-5 , Cape Canaveral

Landing:

March 24, 1961, 17:38 UTC

Landing place:

Atlantic

Flight duration:

8min 23s

Earth orbits:

suborbital flight

Apogee :

183 km

Covered track:

494 km

Maximum speed:

8245 km / h

Maximum acceleration:

11 g

Start photo

Launch of MR-BD (NASA)

◄ Before / After ►

Mercury-Little-Joe 5A

Mercury Atlas 3

Mercury-Redstone Booster Development (MR-BD) was the last unmanned mission to test the Redstone rocket as part of the American Mercury program . A dummy capsule with a dummy rescue rocket was used.

Before a manned launch with a Redstone rocket, the aim was to solve the problems that had occurred with Mercury Redstone 2 .

The reason for the excessive acceleration on the previous flight was a defective valve that controlled the flow of hydrogen peroxide to the steam generator, causing the fuel pumps to run too fast. Therefore, on this and subsequent Mercury Redstone missions, the rocket was modified to address this issue. In addition, four reinforcements made the rocket less sensitive to vibrations. The capsule was not separated from the missile as intended. The team reached a maximum speed of approx. 8200 km / h and a summit height of approx. 180 km. It hit the Atlantic 494 km from the launch site and sank there.

As all the objectives set for the mission were achieved, the rocket was released for manned flights.

Web links

Commons : Mercury-Redstone BD - collection of images, videos and audio files

NSSDC: Mercury Redstone BD
NASA: MR-BD (15)
NASA History Series: MR-BD is not MR-3. In: This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury. (English)