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Feb 20, 1962


deicer

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6 hours ago, deicer said:

I took 5 seconds and copied it for you, deicer. Saves everyone else from having to follow your link.

 

20 February 1962, 14:47:39 UTC

111.jpg Launch of Friendship 7 from Launch Complex 14, Kennedy Space Center, 14:47:39 UTC, 20 February 1962. (NASA)

1200px-NASA_logo.svg_.png20 February 1962: At 9:47:39 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, NASA’s Mercury-Atlas 6 lifted off from Launch Complex 14, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida. This was the third launch of a manned Mercury spacecraft, and the first time that an Atlas rocket had been used.

Aboard the spacecraft was Lieutenant Colonel John Herschel Glenn, Jr., United States Marine Corps, an experienced fighter pilot and test pilot.

wJVncFc.jpg John Herschel Glenn, Jr., NASA Project Mercury Astronaut. (Ralph Morse/LIFE Magazine)

In his post-flight mission report, Glenn wrote,

When the countdown reached zero, I could feel the engines start. The spacecraft shook, not violently but very solidly. There was no doubt when lift off occurred, When the Atlas was released there was an immediate gentle surge to let you know you were on your way.

Results of the First United States Orbital Space Flight (NASA-TM-108606), Manned Spacecraft Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, at Page 120, Column 1

2 minutes, 9.6 seconds after liftoff, the booster engines cut of and were jettisoned. 23 seconds later, the escape tower, no longer needed, was also jettisoned. The Atlas sustainer engine continued to burn until T+00:05:01.4. The spacecraft had now reached 17,544 miles per hour (28,234 kilometers per hour) and was in an elliptical orbit around the Earth. At T+00:05:03.6 the Mercury spacecraft separated from the Atlas booster. During the climb to orbit, John Glenn experienced a maximum acceleration of 7.7 gs.

Glenn’s orbit had an apogee of 162.2 statute miles (261 kilometers) and perigee of 100 miles (161 kilometers). The orbit was inclined 32.54° relative to Earth’s orbital plane. Friendship 7 completed an orbit every 88 minutes, 29 seconds.

Analysis showed that the Atlas had placed Friendship 7 in orbit at a velocity with 7 feet per second (2.1 meters per second) less than nominal. However, computer analysis showed that the orbital trajectory was good enough for nearly 100 orbits.

G080-02-1x.jpg This photograph of Friendship 7’s cockpit was taken in orbit around the Earth, 20 February 1962. Astronaut John Glenn’s hands and legs are visible at the lower edge of the image. (Ohio State University)

During the 4 hour, 55 minute, 23 second flight, the Mercury capsule orbited the Earth three times. John Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth.  (Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had orbited the Earth 12 April 1961.)

USS_Noa_DD-841_hoists_Friendship_7_capsu Friendship 7 is hoisted aboard USS Noa (DD-841). (U.S. Navy)

After re-entry, the capsule parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean, only six miles from the recovery ship, USS Noa (DD-841).

Mercury_Spacecraft_Dimensions.jpeg Mercury spacecraft profile with dimensions. (NASA)

Screen-Shot-2018-07-18-at-12.50.46.pngThe Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, was built by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri. It was the 13th Mercury capsule built. Designed to carry one pilot, it could be controlled in pitch, roll and yaw by steam thrusters fueled by hydrogen peroxide. The Mercury was 7 feet, 2.83 inches (2.206 meters) long, not including its retro rocket pack. The spacecraft was generally conical, and had a maximum diameter of 6 feet, 2.50 inches (1.885 meters). It weighed 2,700 pounds (1,224.7 kilograms) at launch.

atlas-lv3b-mercury.jpeg Diagram of Atlas LV-3B (Space Launch Report)

Screen-Shot-2018-10-25-at-21.19.04.pngThe rocket, a “1-½ stage” liquid-fueled Atlas LV-3B, number 109-D, was built by the  Convair Division of General Dynamics at San Diego, California. It was developed from a U.S. Air Force SM-65 Atlas D intercontinental ballistic missile, modified for use as a “man-rated” orbital launch vehicle.

The LV-3B was 65 feet (19.812 meters) long from the base to the Mercury adapter section, and the tank section is 10 feet (3.038 meters) in diameter. The complete Mercury-Atlas orbital launch vehicle is 93 feet (28.436 meters) tall, including the escape tower. When ready for launch it weighed approximately 260,000 pounds (118,000 kilograms) and could place a 3,000 pound (1,360 kilogram) payload into low Earth orbit.

Screen-Shot-2018-05-19-at-22.09.29.pngThe Atlas’ three engines were built by the Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation, Inc., at Canoga Park, California. Two Rocketdyne LR89-NA-5 engines and one LR105-NA-5 produced 341,140 pounds (1,517.466 kilonewtons) of thrust. The rocket was fueled by a highly-refined kerosene, RP-1, with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer.

Friendship 7 is displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

John Glenn's Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.) John Glenn’s Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

 

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Great post.

The whole process of launching vehicles into space is still an amazing event to me. I don’t recall seeing this launch on TV as I was quite young but I was an avid fan of the ones which followed with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. 

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On 2/21/2019 at 12:51 PM, Kip Powick said:

I was  practicing a loop, at 8000 feet 

I was in Sardinia on a semi-annual gun camp.  One trip; 20000 feet, 66 % (133 bullets out of 200 in the flag).   

 

Apropos of nothing:  ejected two weeks later to the day back at home base...    (Leaving me with an uneven take-off/landing count)  ?

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2 hours ago, Schooner69 said:

I was in Sardinia on a semi-annual gun camp.  One trip; 20000 feet, 66 % (133 bullets out of 200 in the flag).   

 

Apropos of nothing:  ejected two weeks later to the day back at home base...    (Leaving me with an uneven take-off/landing count)  ?

Ejected from what type?

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6 March, 1962.  Zweibrucken, Germany.  

First photo is of 710 in better days.  Second is when I finished with it...

30-45 seconds airborne.  About the same under canopy.

Hard to believe it's coming up 57 years in a couple of weeks...

 

(I am ignoring the jibes from those who flew airplanes with toilets and somebody with whom to talk...)     ???

 

 

23710.jpg

SABRE.jpg

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5 hours ago, Schooner69 said:

6 March, 1962.  Zweibrucken, Germany.  

First photo is of 710 in better days.  Second is when I finished with it...

30-45 seconds airborne.  About the same under canopy.

Hard to believe it's coming up 57 years in a couple of weeks...

 

(I am ignoring the jibes from those who flew airplanes with toilets and somebody with whom to talk...)     ???

 

 

23710.jpg

SABRE.jpg

Toilets are a nice feature. The talking to someone part can be overrated. I think being able to eject when all goes wrong may be the best of all. ?

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Conehead:

The decision to step over the side was more or less made for me:

The initial explosion was accompanied by a complete loss of thrust, a transitory smell of smoke, and a call to "EJECT" from my Number 2.  

That is not something you want to hear from a wingman and I looked over my shoulder to check for smoke.  (Nothing seen)

However, when I looked back into the cockpit, I had both fire warning lights illuminated: that fact, coupled with the lack of thrust, the knowledge that I was going to have to start trading altitude for airspeed, and realization that I was still within the "guaranteed" parameters of the seat/chute combination cemented the decision.

(A forced landing was out of the question due to the topography...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Schooner69 said:

The decision to step over the side was more or less made for me:

The initial explosion was accompanied by a complete loss of thrust, a transitory smell of smoke, and a call to "EJECT" from my Number 2.  

I have great respect for those of you who've had to make that call. I've never had the option of bailing out but long ago decided that it would take a burning airplane to make me ride a parachute.

I flew with a Texan who had two silkworm pins, both earned in the F86. I remember him saying that a fire light in the US machine meant you had very little time to punch out before you were riding a fireball - power loss, or not. Was it the same in the Canadian aircraft?

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There were two fire warning lights in the F-86:  forward (for the engine compartment, I think) and the aft (for the tail section, methinks).  

Barring other indications of fire, I don't remember it being a real panic situation if they illuminated individually.  I think there'd be time for some trouble shooting.  

Double illumination would be another kettle of fish...  Luckily, I had enough corroborating info to seal the deal.

 

 

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I flew with a Texan who had two silkworm pins, both earned in the F86.

My Nav from Voodoo time, (xxx), had the dubious distinction of being, (as far as I know), the only one who left the CF-100 by way of Martin Baker equipment, twice.

The first time was involuntary, they were flying along when the drogue gun fired, going through the canopy and dragging the drogue chute out.

Then the canopy left and his seat went out with no action on his part. His pilot by this time had been descending at a great rate but then he bailed out.

When questioned as to why, he said that he figured that xxx knew more than he did so he bailed out.

The airplane ended up in a field in Belgium and as luck would have it hit a gas main to a village and cut off the gas.

During the investigation the in charge officer was convinced that xxx had deliberately bailed out. Can't imagine why he thought that, but until the seat was found with both handles in place

he was having a hard time denying it with some consequences if he was not believed.

The second time was much later when he was flying with EWU on an exercise over the Laurentians.   The controls locked up and they both had to bail out.

 

 

 

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