Mercury-Jupiter
Encyclopedia
Mercury-Jupiter was a Jupiter missile with a Mercury capsule and was proposed as a suborbital launch vehicle for Project Mercury
in October, 1958; however, it was never flown, and was canceled in July 1959 due to budget constraints.
It would have been capable of launching the Mercury spacecraft
to a 300-mile (500-km) apogee at 10,000 mph (14,000 km/h) and 1,500 miles (2,500 km) downrange. However, when this trajectory was used on earlier biological test flights, the animals received 40 g during reentry, so perhaps the Jupiter would not have been used to its full capability on manned flights. The MJ-2 flight was planned as a maximum dynamic pressure test to qualify the Mercury capsule's production using a chimpanzee aboard.
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
in October, 1958; however, it was never flown, and was canceled in July 1959 due to budget constraints.
It would have been capable of launching the Mercury spacecraft
Mercury program
Mercury Program might refer to:*the first successful American manned spaceflight program, Project Mercury*an American post-rock band, The Mercury Program...
to a 300-mile (500-km) apogee at 10,000 mph (14,000 km/h) and 1,500 miles (2,500 km) downrange. However, when this trajectory was used on earlier biological test flights, the animals received 40 g during reentry, so perhaps the Jupiter would not have been used to its full capability on manned flights. The MJ-2 flight was planned as a maximum dynamic pressure test to qualify the Mercury capsule's production using a chimpanzee aboard.