Mercury-Redstone 4
Encyclopedia
Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States
manned space mission, launched on July 21, 1961. The Mercury program
suborbital
flight used a Redstone rocket
. The spacecraft was named Liberty Bell 7 piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom. It reached an altitude of more than 118.26 mi (190 km) and traveled about 300 mi (480 km). The Redstone was MRLV-8 and the spacecraft was Mercury spacecraft #11, the first with a centerline window instead of two portholes.
McDonnell engineers came up with two different quick release hatches for the Mercury spacecraft. One with a latch, used on Ham's MR-2 and Shepard's MR-3 missions. The other design was an explosive release hatch. The quick release latching hatch weighed 69 lb
(31 kg
), too much of a weight addition to use on the orbital version of the spacecraft. The explosive hatch design used the 70 bolts of the original design, but each quarter-inch (6.35 mm) titanium bolt had a 0.06 in (1.5 mm) hole bored into it to provide a weak point. A mild detonating fuse (MDF) was installed in a channel between the inner and outer seal around the periphery of the hatch. When the MDF was ignited, the resulting gas pressure between the inner and outer seal would cause the bolts to fail in tension.
There were two ways to fire the explosive hatch during recovery. On the inside of the hatch was a knobbed plunger. The pilot could remove a pin and press the plunger with a force of 5 or 6 lbf
(25 N). This would detonate the explosive charge, which would shear off the 70 bolts and propel the hatch 25 ft (8 m) away in 1 s. If the pin was left in place, a force of 40 lbf (180 N) was required to detonate the hatch. An outside rescuer could blow open the hatch by removing a small panel near the hatch and pulling a lanyard. The explosive hatch weighed only 23 lb (10 kg).
glass. It could withstand temperatures of 1500 to 1800 °F (820 to 980 °C). The inner pane was made up of three inner glass panels bonded to make a single inner pane. One panel was a 0.17 in (4.3 mm) thick sheet of Vycor, while the others were tempered glass. This new window assembly was as strong as any part of the spacecraft pressure vessel.
Before the Mercury 4 flight, Lewis Research Center and Space Task Group
engineers had determined that firing the posigrade rockets into the booster-spacecraft adapter, rather than in the open, developed 78% greater thrust. This achieved a greater spacecraft-booster separation through a kind of "pop-gun" effect. By using this technique, the spacecraft separated at velocity of about 28.1 ft/s (9 m/s) rather than 15 ft/s (5 m/s) using the old procedure. Mercury 4 flight would take advantage of this new procedure.
Additional hardware changes to Mercury 4 were a redesigned fairing for the spacecraft-Redstone adapter clamp-ring and additional foam padding added to the head area of the contour couch. The fairing changes and additional foam were used to reduce vibrations the pilot experienced during the boost phase of flight. The spacecraft instrument panel was rearranged to provide a better eye scan pattern.
, Robert Gilruth, told Gus Grissom
that he would be the primary pilot for Mercury 4. John Glenn
was the backup pilot for the mission.
Redstone launch vehicle MRLV-8 arrived at Cape Canaveral on June 8, 1961. A mission review on July 15, 1961 pronounced Redstone MRLV-8 and Mercury spacecraft #11 ready to go for the Mercury 4 mission.
Also, on July 15, 1961 Gus Grissom announced he would name Mercury 4, Liberty Bell 7. Grissom said the name was an appropriate call-sign for the bell-shaped spacecraft. He also said the name was synonymous with "freedom". As a tribute to the original Liberty Bell
, a "crack" was painted on the side of the spacecraft.
The Mercury 4 mission was planned as a repeat of MR-3. It was to reach an apogee of 116 mi (187 km). The planned range was 299 mi (481 km). Grissom would experience a maximum acceleration of 6.33 g (62 m/s²) and deceleration of 10.96 g (107 m/s²).
The launch of Liberty Bell 7 was first planned for July 16. The cloud cover was too thick and the launch was postponed until July 18. On July 18, it was again postponed due to weather. Both times, the pilot had not yet boarded the spacecraft. On July 19, 1961, Grissom was aboard the Liberty Bell 7 when the flight was delayed again due to weather. At that point, it had just 10 minutes 30 seconds to go before launch.
On the morning of July 21, 1961, Gus Grissom entered the Liberty Bell 7 at 8:58 UTC and the 70 hatch bolts were put in place. At 45 minutes prior to the scheduled launch, a pad technician discovered that one of the hatch bolts was misaligned. During a 30 minute hold that was called, McDonnell and NASA Space Task Group engineers decided that the 69 remaining bolts should be sufficient to hold the hatch in place and blow it at the appropriate time. The misaligned bolt was not replaced.
The Liberty Bell 7 was launched at 12:20:36 UTC, July 21, 1961.
Grissom's cabin pressure sealed off at the proper altitude, about 27,000 ft (8.2 km), and he felt elated that the environmental control system was in good working order. The suit and cabin temperature, about 57.5 and 97 °F (14 and 36 °C), respectively, were quite comfortable. Watching his instruments for the pitch rate of the Redstone, Grissom saw it follow directions as programmed, tilting over at about 1 deg/s.
Under a 3 g (29 m/s²) acceleration on the up-leg of his flight, Grissom noticed a sudden change in the color of the horizon from light blue to jet black. His attention was distracted by the noise of the tower-jettison rocket firing on schedule. The pilot felt the separation and watched the tower through the window as it drifted off, trailing smoke, to his right. At two minutes and 22 seconds after launch, the Redstone's Rocketdyne engine cut off after building a speed of 6,561 ft/s (1 969 m/s). Grissom had a strong sensation of tumbling during the transition from high to zero acceleration, and, while he had become familiar with this sensation in centrifuge training, for a moment he lost his bearings.
The Redstone coasted for 10 seconds after its engine cut off; then a sharp report signaled that the posigrade rockets were popping the spacecraft loose from the booster. Although Grissom peered out his window throughout his ship's turnaround maneuver, he never caught sight of his launch vehicle.
Turning reluctantly to his dials and control stick, Grissom made a pitch movement change, but was past his desired mark. He jockeyed the handcontroller stick for position, trying to damp out all oscillations, then made a yaw movement and went too far in that direction. By the time the proper attitude was attained, the short time allocated for these maneuvers had been used, so he omitted the roll movement altogether. Grissom found the manual controls very sluggish when compared to the Mercury procedures trainer. He then switched to the new rate command control system and found perfect response, although fuel consumption was high.
After the pitch and yaw maneuvers, Grissom made a roll-over movement so he could see the ground from his window. Some land beneath the clouds (later determined to be western Florida around the Apalachicola area) appeared in the hazy distance, but the pilot was unable to identify it. Suddenly Cape Canaveral came into view so clearly that Grissom found it hard to believe that his slant-range was over 150 mi (240 km).
He saw Merritt Island, the Banana River, the Indian River, and what appeared to be a large airport runway. South of Cape Canaveral, he saw what he believed to be West Palm Beach.
Pitching the spacecraft over into a reentry attitude of 14 degrees from Earth-vertical, the pilot tried to see the stars out his observation window. Instead the glare of sunlight filled his cabin, making it difficult to read the panel dials, particularly those with blue lights. Grissom felt that he would not have noticed the 0.05 g (0.5 m/s²) light if he had not known it was about to flash on.
Reentry presented no problem. Grissom could not feel the oscillations following the acceleration buildup; he could only read them on the rate indicators. Meanwhile he continued to report to the Mercury Control Center on his electric current reading, fuel quantity, acceleration, and other instrument indications. Condensation and smoke trailed off the heatshield at about 65,000 ft (20 km) as Liberty Bell 7 plunged back into the atmosphere.
The drogue parachute
deployed on schedule at 21,000 ft (6.4 km). Grissom said he saw the deployment and felt some resulting pulsating motion, but not enough to worry him. Main parachute deployment occurred at 12,300 ft (3.7 km), which was about 1,000 ft (300 m) higher than the design nominal altitude. Watching the main chute unfurl, Grissom spotted a 6 in (150 mm) L-shaped tear and another 2 in (50 mm) puncture in the canopy. Although he worried about them, the holes grew no bigger and his rate of descent soon slowed to about 28 ft/s (9 m/s). Dumping his peroxide control fuel, the pilot began transmitting his panel readings.
Preparing for recovery, he disconnected his helmet and checked himself for debarkation. The neck dam did not unroll easily; Grissom tinkered with his suit collar to ensure his buoyancy in the event that he had to get out of the spacecraft quickly. When the recovery helicopters, which had taken to the air at launch time and visually followed the contrails and parachute descent, were still about 2 mi (3 km) from the impact point, which was only 3 mi (5 km) beyond the bullseye, Lieutenant James L. Lewis, pilot of the primary recovery helicopter, radioed Grissom to ask if he was ready for pickup. He replied that he wanted them to wait five minutes while he recorded his cockpit panel data. Using a grease pencil with the pressure suit gloves was awkward, and several times the suit ventilation caused the neck dam to balloon, but the pilot simply placed his finger between neck and dam to allow the air to escape.
Grissom had difficulty recollecting his actions at this point, but he was certain that he had not touched the hatch-activation plunger. He removed his helmet, grasped the instrument panel with his right hand, and climbed out of the sloshing hatchway. Floating in the sea, he was thankful that he had unbuckled himself earlier from most of his harness, including the chest restraints, otherwise he might not have been able to exit.
Lieutenant John Reinhard, co-pilot of the nearest recovery helicopter, reported afterward that the helicopters were making their final approach for pick-up. He was preparing to cut the spacecraft's antenna whip (according to a new procedure) with a squib-actuated cutter at the end of a pole, when he saw the hatch cover fly off, strike the water at a distance of about 5 ft (1.5 m) from the hatch, and then go skipping over the waves. Next he saw Grissom's head appear, and the astronaut began climbing through the hatch. Once out, Grissom swam away.
Reinhard immediately prepared to pass the floating astronaut the personnel hoist, but at that moment Lewis called a warning that a detector light had flashed on the instrument panel, indicating that metal chips were in the oil sump because of engine strain. Considering the implication of impending engine failure, Lewis told Reinhard to retract the personnel hoist while he called the second chopper to retrieve the pilot.
Meanwhile, Grissom, having made certain that he was not snared by any lines, noticed that the primary helicopter was having trouble raising the submerged spacecraft. He swam back to the spacecraft to see if he could assist, but found the cable properly attached. When he looked up for the personnel line, he saw the helicopter start to move away.
Suddenly, Grissom realized that he was not riding as high in the water as he had been. All the time he had been in the water he kept feeling air escape through the neck dam. The more air he lost, the less buoyancy he had. Moreover, he had forgotten to secure his suit inlet valve. Swimming was becoming difficult, and now with the second helicopter moving in he found the rotor wash between the two aircraft was making swimming more difficult. Bobbing under the waves, Grissom was scared, angry, and looking for a swimmer from one of the helicopters to help him tread water. Then he caught sight of a familiar face, that of George Cox, aboard the second helicopter. Cox was the copilot who had retrieved both the chimpanzee Ham and Shepard on the first Mercury flight. With his head barely above water, Grissom found the sight of Cox heartening.
Cox tossed the "horse-collar" lifeline straight to Grissom, who immediately wrapped himself into the sling backwards. Lack of orthodoxy mattered little to Grissom now, for he was on his way to the safety of the helicopter, even though swells dunked him twice more before he got aboard. His first thought was to get a life preserver on. Grissom had been either swimming or floating for a period of only four or five minutes, "although it seemed like an eternity to me," as he said afterward.
As the first helicopter moved away from Grissom, it struggled to raise the spacecraft high enough to drain the water from the impact bag. At one point the spacecraft was almost clear of the water, but like an anchor it prevented the helicopter from moving forward. The flooded Liberty Bell 7 weighed over 5,000 lb (2 300 kg), 1,000 lb (450 kg) beyond the helicopter's lifting capacity. The pilot, watching his insistent red warning light, decided not to chance losing two craft in one day. He finally cast loose, allowing the spacecraft to sink swiftly. Martin Byrnes, aboard the carrier, suggested that a marker be placed at the point so that the spacecraft might be recovered later. Rear Admiral J. E. Clark advised Byrnes that in that area the depth was about 2,800 fathom
s (5.1 km).
flight and the first planned Apollo
flight.
Two Mercury flights later, Astronaut Wally Schirra
manually blew Sigma 7
's hatch after recovery when his spacecraft was on the deck of the recovery ship, in a deliberate attempt to dispel the rumor that Grissom might have blown Liberty Bell 7's hatch deliberately. As anticipated, the kickback from the manual trigger left Schirra with a visible injury to his right hand. Grissom was uninjured when he exited the spacecraft, as documented by his postflight physical. This strongly supports his assertion that he did not "accidentally" hit the trigger, since in that case he would have been even more likely to injure himself than with intentional activation.
Several years later, during an interview on April 12, 1965, Grissom said he thought the hatch might have been triggered because the external release lanyard came loose. On Liberty Bell 7, the external release lanyard was only held in place by a single screw. It was better secured on later flights. This theory was accepted by Guenter Wendt
, "Pad Fuehrer" for most early American manned spaceflights.
In an ironic twist of fate, the inability to quickly open a hatch contributed to Grissom's death, as well as that of Ed White
and Roger B. Chaffee
, in the Apollo 1
launch-pad fire. Use of an explosive hatch had been rejected following the discovery by engineers that, in fact, an explosive egress system on a spacecraft could inadvertently fire without being triggered. Following the Apollo fire, Block II Apollo spacecraft were equipped with rapid-opening systems.
lunar landing and one day shy of the 38th anniversary of Mercury 4's flight, Oceaneering International, Inc. lifted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft off the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and onto the deck of a recovery ship. The team was led by Curt Newport and financed by the Discovery Channel
.
The spacecraft was found after a 14-year effort by Newport at a depth of nearly 15,000 ft (4.5 km), 300 NM
(550 km) east-southeast of Cape Canaveral
and was in surprisingly good condition. Some of the interior aluminum
panels showed deterioration, but some fabric pieces, including Grissom's personal parachute
, were intact. The recovery failed to answer the questions surrounding the prematurely-blown hatch. The recovery team ran out of time and was not able to continue the search for the hatch itself. A camera operating during the flight was located, but it had broken open and the film inside had been ruined by seawater
.
After Liberty Bell 7 was secured on the deck of the recovery ship, experts removed and disposed of an explosive device (SOFAR bomb
) that was supposed to detonate in the event of the spacecraft's sinking, but which failed to explode. The spacecraft was then placed in a container filled with seawater to prevent further corrosion. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
disassembled and cleaned the spacecraft, and released it for a national tour through September 15, 2006. The spacecraft was then returned to the Cosmosphere where it is on permanent display. Liberty Bell 7 is the only flown American spacecraft owned by a museum other than the National Air and Space Museum
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
manned space mission, launched on July 21, 1961. The Mercury program
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,...
suborbital
Sub-orbital spaceflight
A sub-orbital space flight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it does not complete one orbital revolution....
flight used a Redstone rocket
Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle
The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American in space.A member of the...
. The spacecraft was named Liberty Bell 7 piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom. It reached an altitude of more than 118.26 mi (190 km) and traveled about 300 mi (480 km). The Redstone was MRLV-8 and the spacecraft was Mercury spacecraft #11, the first with a centerline window instead of two portholes.
Crew
Backup Crew
Mission parameters
- Mass: 1 286 kg
- Maximum Altitude: 190.39 km
- Range: 486.15 km
- Launch Vehicle: Redstone rocketMercury-Redstone Launch VehicleThe Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American in space.A member of the...
Liberty Bell 7
Mercury spacecraft #11, was designated to fly the second manned suborbital flight in October, 1961. It came off McDonnell's St. Louis production line in May 1960. Spacecraft #11 was the first Mercury operational spacecraft with a centerline window. It was closer to the final orbital version than was Alan Shepard's Freedom 7.Explosive hatch
Spacecraft #11 also had a new explosive hatch release. This would allow an astronaut to exit the spacecraft quickly in the event of an emergency. Emergency personnel could also trigger the explosive hatch from outside the spacecraft by pulling on an external lanyard. Both the pop-off hatch and the lanyard are standard features of ejection seats used in military aircraft, but in the Mercury design, the pilot still had to exit the craft himself, or be removed by emergency personnel. The original exit procedure was to climb out through the antenna compartment, after removing a small pressure bulkhead. This was a difficult and slow procedure. Removal of an injured or unconscious astronaut through the top hatch would be nearly impossible. The original side hatch was bolted shut with 70 bolts and covered with several spacecraft shingles, making it a slow process to open the original hatch.McDonnell engineers came up with two different quick release hatches for the Mercury spacecraft. One with a latch, used on Ham's MR-2 and Shepard's MR-3 missions. The other design was an explosive release hatch. The quick release latching hatch weighed 69 lb
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
(31 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
), too much of a weight addition to use on the orbital version of the spacecraft. The explosive hatch design used the 70 bolts of the original design, but each quarter-inch (6.35 mm) titanium bolt had a 0.06 in (1.5 mm) hole bored into it to provide a weak point. A mild detonating fuse (MDF) was installed in a channel between the inner and outer seal around the periphery of the hatch. When the MDF was ignited, the resulting gas pressure between the inner and outer seal would cause the bolts to fail in tension.
There were two ways to fire the explosive hatch during recovery. On the inside of the hatch was a knobbed plunger. The pilot could remove a pin and press the plunger with a force of 5 or 6 lbf
Pound-force
The pound force is a unit of force in some systems of measurement including English engineering units and British gravitational units.- Definitions :...
(25 N). This would detonate the explosive charge, which would shear off the 70 bolts and propel the hatch 25 ft (8 m) away in 1 s. If the pin was left in place, a force of 40 lbf (180 N) was required to detonate the hatch. An outside rescuer could blow open the hatch by removing a small panel near the hatch and pulling a lanyard. The explosive hatch weighed only 23 lb (10 kg).
Window
The new trapezoid window on spacecraft #11 replaced the two 10 in (254 mm) side portholes that were on Freedom 7. The Corning Glass Works of Corning, New York, designed and developed the multilayered panes that made up the new window. The outer pane was 0.35 in (8.9 mm) thick VycorVycor
Vycor is a glass with high temperature and thermal shock resistance, made by Corning Incorporated. Vycor is 96% silica, but unlike pure fused silica it can be readily manufactured in a variety of shapes....
glass. It could withstand temperatures of 1500 to 1800 °F (820 to 980 °C). The inner pane was made up of three inner glass panels bonded to make a single inner pane. One panel was a 0.17 in (4.3 mm) thick sheet of Vycor, while the others were tempered glass. This new window assembly was as strong as any part of the spacecraft pressure vessel.
Controls
The manual controls for Mercury 4 incorporated a new rate stabilization control system. This allowed fine control of spacecraft attitude movements by small turns of the hand controller. Previously a lot of jockeying of the device was needed to attain the desired attitude. This rate damping or rate augmentation system gave finer and easier handling qualities and a redundant means of firing the pitch, yaw, and roll thrusters.Before the Mercury 4 flight, Lewis Research Center and Space Task Group
Space Task Group
The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight programs. It was headed by Robert Gilruth andbased at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. After President John F...
engineers had determined that firing the posigrade rockets into the booster-spacecraft adapter, rather than in the open, developed 78% greater thrust. This achieved a greater spacecraft-booster separation through a kind of "pop-gun" effect. By using this technique, the spacecraft separated at velocity of about 28.1 ft/s (9 m/s) rather than 15 ft/s (5 m/s) using the old procedure. Mercury 4 flight would take advantage of this new procedure.
Additional hardware changes to Mercury 4 were a redesigned fairing for the spacecraft-Redstone adapter clamp-ring and additional foam padding added to the head area of the contour couch. The fairing changes and additional foam were used to reduce vibrations the pilot experienced during the boost phase of flight. The spacecraft instrument panel was rearranged to provide a better eye scan pattern.
Mission description
In January, 1961, NASA's Director of the Space Task GroupSpace Task Group
The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight programs. It was headed by Robert Gilruth andbased at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. After President John F...
, Robert Gilruth, told Gus Grissom
Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...
that he would be the primary pilot for Mercury 4. John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
was the backup pilot for the mission.
Redstone launch vehicle MRLV-8 arrived at Cape Canaveral on June 8, 1961. A mission review on July 15, 1961 pronounced Redstone MRLV-8 and Mercury spacecraft #11 ready to go for the Mercury 4 mission.
Also, on July 15, 1961 Gus Grissom announced he would name Mercury 4, Liberty Bell 7. Grissom said the name was an appropriate call-sign for the bell-shaped spacecraft. He also said the name was synonymous with "freedom". As a tribute to the original Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...
, a "crack" was painted on the side of the spacecraft.
The Mercury 4 mission was planned as a repeat of MR-3. It was to reach an apogee of 116 mi (187 km). The planned range was 299 mi (481 km). Grissom would experience a maximum acceleration of 6.33 g (62 m/s²) and deceleration of 10.96 g (107 m/s²).
The launch of Liberty Bell 7 was first planned for July 16. The cloud cover was too thick and the launch was postponed until July 18. On July 18, it was again postponed due to weather. Both times, the pilot had not yet boarded the spacecraft. On July 19, 1961, Grissom was aboard the Liberty Bell 7 when the flight was delayed again due to weather. At that point, it had just 10 minutes 30 seconds to go before launch.
On the morning of July 21, 1961, Gus Grissom entered the Liberty Bell 7 at 8:58 UTC and the 70 hatch bolts were put in place. At 45 minutes prior to the scheduled launch, a pad technician discovered that one of the hatch bolts was misaligned. During a 30 minute hold that was called, McDonnell and NASA Space Task Group engineers decided that the 69 remaining bolts should be sufficient to hold the hatch in place and blow it at the appropriate time. The misaligned bolt was not replaced.
The Liberty Bell 7 was launched at 12:20:36 UTC, July 21, 1961.
Liftoff
Grissom later admitted at the postflight debriefing that he was "a bit scared" at liftoff, but he added that he soon gained confidence along with the acceleration increase. Hearing the engine roar at the pedestal, he thought that his elapsed-time clock had started late. Like Shepard, he was amazed at the smooth quality of the liftoff, but then he noticed gradually more severe vibrations. These were never violent enough to impair his vision.Grissom's cabin pressure sealed off at the proper altitude, about 27,000 ft (8.2 km), and he felt elated that the environmental control system was in good working order. The suit and cabin temperature, about 57.5 and 97 °F (14 and 36 °C), respectively, were quite comfortable. Watching his instruments for the pitch rate of the Redstone, Grissom saw it follow directions as programmed, tilting over at about 1 deg/s.
Under a 3 g (29 m/s²) acceleration on the up-leg of his flight, Grissom noticed a sudden change in the color of the horizon from light blue to jet black. His attention was distracted by the noise of the tower-jettison rocket firing on schedule. The pilot felt the separation and watched the tower through the window as it drifted off, trailing smoke, to his right. At two minutes and 22 seconds after launch, the Redstone's Rocketdyne engine cut off after building a speed of 6,561 ft/s (1 969 m/s). Grissom had a strong sensation of tumbling during the transition from high to zero acceleration, and, while he had become familiar with this sensation in centrifuge training, for a moment he lost his bearings.
The Redstone coasted for 10 seconds after its engine cut off; then a sharp report signaled that the posigrade rockets were popping the spacecraft loose from the booster. Although Grissom peered out his window throughout his ship's turnaround maneuver, he never caught sight of his launch vehicle.
Flight
With turnaround accomplished, the Air Force jet pilot for the first time became a space pilot, assuming manual-proportional control. A constant urge to look out the window made concentrating on his control tasks difficult. He told Shepard back in Mercury Control that the panorama of Earth's horizon, presenting an 800 mi (1 300 km) arc at peak altitude, was fascinating. His instruments rated a poor second to the spectacle below.Turning reluctantly to his dials and control stick, Grissom made a pitch movement change, but was past his desired mark. He jockeyed the handcontroller stick for position, trying to damp out all oscillations, then made a yaw movement and went too far in that direction. By the time the proper attitude was attained, the short time allocated for these maneuvers had been used, so he omitted the roll movement altogether. Grissom found the manual controls very sluggish when compared to the Mercury procedures trainer. He then switched to the new rate command control system and found perfect response, although fuel consumption was high.
After the pitch and yaw maneuvers, Grissom made a roll-over movement so he could see the ground from his window. Some land beneath the clouds (later determined to be western Florida around the Apalachicola area) appeared in the hazy distance, but the pilot was unable to identify it. Suddenly Cape Canaveral came into view so clearly that Grissom found it hard to believe that his slant-range was over 150 mi (240 km).
He saw Merritt Island, the Banana River, the Indian River, and what appeared to be a large airport runway. South of Cape Canaveral, he saw what he believed to be West Palm Beach.
Reentry
With Liberty Bell 7 at an altitude of 118.26 mi (190.32 km), it was now time to position the spacecraft in its reentry attitude. Grissom had initiated the retrorocket sequence and the spacecraft was arcing downward. His pulse reached 171 beats per minute. Retrofire gave him the distinct and peculiar feeling that he had reversed his backward flight through space and was actually moving face forward. As he plummeted downward, he saw what appeared to be two of the spent retrorockets pass across the periscope view after the retrorocket package had been jettisoned.Pitching the spacecraft over into a reentry attitude of 14 degrees from Earth-vertical, the pilot tried to see the stars out his observation window. Instead the glare of sunlight filled his cabin, making it difficult to read the panel dials, particularly those with blue lights. Grissom felt that he would not have noticed the 0.05 g (0.5 m/s²) light if he had not known it was about to flash on.
Reentry presented no problem. Grissom could not feel the oscillations following the acceleration buildup; he could only read them on the rate indicators. Meanwhile he continued to report to the Mercury Control Center on his electric current reading, fuel quantity, acceleration, and other instrument indications. Condensation and smoke trailed off the heatshield at about 65,000 ft (20 km) as Liberty Bell 7 plunged back into the atmosphere.
The drogue parachute
Drogue parachute
A drogue parachute is a parachute designed to be deployed from a rapidly moving object in order to slow the object, or to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute...
deployed on schedule at 21,000 ft (6.4 km). Grissom said he saw the deployment and felt some resulting pulsating motion, but not enough to worry him. Main parachute deployment occurred at 12,300 ft (3.7 km), which was about 1,000 ft (300 m) higher than the design nominal altitude. Watching the main chute unfurl, Grissom spotted a 6 in (150 mm) L-shaped tear and another 2 in (50 mm) puncture in the canopy. Although he worried about them, the holes grew no bigger and his rate of descent soon slowed to about 28 ft/s (9 m/s). Dumping his peroxide control fuel, the pilot began transmitting his panel readings.
Splashdown
A "clunk" confirmed that the landing bag had dropped in preparation for impact. Grissom then removed his oxygen hose and opened his visor, but deliberately left the suit ventilation hose attached. Impact was milder than he had expected, although the spacecraft heeled over in the water until Grissom was lying on his left side. He thought he was facing downward. The spacecraft gradually righted itself, and, as the window cleared the water, Grissom jettisoned the reserve parachute and activated the rescue aids switch. Liberty Bell 7 still appeared watertight, although it was rolling badly with the swells.Preparing for recovery, he disconnected his helmet and checked himself for debarkation. The neck dam did not unroll easily; Grissom tinkered with his suit collar to ensure his buoyancy in the event that he had to get out of the spacecraft quickly. When the recovery helicopters, which had taken to the air at launch time and visually followed the contrails and parachute descent, were still about 2 mi (3 km) from the impact point, which was only 3 mi (5 km) beyond the bullseye, Lieutenant James L. Lewis, pilot of the primary recovery helicopter, radioed Grissom to ask if he was ready for pickup. He replied that he wanted them to wait five minutes while he recorded his cockpit panel data. Using a grease pencil with the pressure suit gloves was awkward, and several times the suit ventilation caused the neck dam to balloon, but the pilot simply placed his finger between neck and dam to allow the air to escape.
Hatch blows open
After logging the panel data, Grissom asked the helicopters to begin the approach for pickup. He removed the pin from the hatch-cover detonator and lay back in the couch. "I was lying there, minding my own business," he said afterward, "when I heard a dull thud." The hatch cover blew away, and salt water swished into the spacecraft as it bobbed in the ocean. The Liberty Bell 7 began taking on water and was sinking fast.Grissom had difficulty recollecting his actions at this point, but he was certain that he had not touched the hatch-activation plunger. He removed his helmet, grasped the instrument panel with his right hand, and climbed out of the sloshing hatchway. Floating in the sea, he was thankful that he had unbuckled himself earlier from most of his harness, including the chest restraints, otherwise he might not have been able to exit.
Lieutenant John Reinhard, co-pilot of the nearest recovery helicopter, reported afterward that the helicopters were making their final approach for pick-up. He was preparing to cut the spacecraft's antenna whip (according to a new procedure) with a squib-actuated cutter at the end of a pole, when he saw the hatch cover fly off, strike the water at a distance of about 5 ft (1.5 m) from the hatch, and then go skipping over the waves. Next he saw Grissom's head appear, and the astronaut began climbing through the hatch. Once out, Grissom swam away.
Failed spacecraft recovery
Leaving aside the swimming astronaut, Lewis completed his approach to the sinking spacecraft, as both he and Reinhard were intent on spacecraft recovery. This action was a conditioned reflex based on past training experience. While training off the Virginia beaches the helicopter pilots had noted that the astronauts seemed at home in and to enjoy the water. So Reinhard quickly cut the high-frequency antenna as soon as the helicopter reached Liberty Bell 7. Throwing aside the antenna cutting device, Reinhard picked up the shepherd's hook recovery pole and carefully threaded the crook through the recovery loop on top of the spacecraft. By this time Lewis had lowered the helicopter to assist Reinhard in his task to a point that the chopper's three wheels were in the water. Liberty Bell 7 sank out of sight, but the pickup pole tangled as the attached cable went taut, indicating to the helicopter pilots that they had made their catch.Reinhard immediately prepared to pass the floating astronaut the personnel hoist, but at that moment Lewis called a warning that a detector light had flashed on the instrument panel, indicating that metal chips were in the oil sump because of engine strain. Considering the implication of impending engine failure, Lewis told Reinhard to retract the personnel hoist while he called the second chopper to retrieve the pilot.
Meanwhile, Grissom, having made certain that he was not snared by any lines, noticed that the primary helicopter was having trouble raising the submerged spacecraft. He swam back to the spacecraft to see if he could assist, but found the cable properly attached. When he looked up for the personnel line, he saw the helicopter start to move away.
Suddenly, Grissom realized that he was not riding as high in the water as he had been. All the time he had been in the water he kept feeling air escape through the neck dam. The more air he lost, the less buoyancy he had. Moreover, he had forgotten to secure his suit inlet valve. Swimming was becoming difficult, and now with the second helicopter moving in he found the rotor wash between the two aircraft was making swimming more difficult. Bobbing under the waves, Grissom was scared, angry, and looking for a swimmer from one of the helicopters to help him tread water. Then he caught sight of a familiar face, that of George Cox, aboard the second helicopter. Cox was the copilot who had retrieved both the chimpanzee Ham and Shepard on the first Mercury flight. With his head barely above water, Grissom found the sight of Cox heartening.
Cox tossed the "horse-collar" lifeline straight to Grissom, who immediately wrapped himself into the sling backwards. Lack of orthodoxy mattered little to Grissom now, for he was on his way to the safety of the helicopter, even though swells dunked him twice more before he got aboard. His first thought was to get a life preserver on. Grissom had been either swimming or floating for a period of only four or five minutes, "although it seemed like an eternity to me," as he said afterward.
As the first helicopter moved away from Grissom, it struggled to raise the spacecraft high enough to drain the water from the impact bag. At one point the spacecraft was almost clear of the water, but like an anchor it prevented the helicopter from moving forward. The flooded Liberty Bell 7 weighed over 5,000 lb (2 300 kg), 1,000 lb (450 kg) beyond the helicopter's lifting capacity. The pilot, watching his insistent red warning light, decided not to chance losing two craft in one day. He finally cast loose, allowing the spacecraft to sink swiftly. Martin Byrnes, aboard the carrier, suggested that a marker be placed at the point so that the spacecraft might be recovered later. Rear Admiral J. E. Clark advised Byrnes that in that area the depth was about 2,800 fathom
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...
s (5.1 km).
Aftermath
Substantial controversy ensued as Grissom reported that the hatch had blown prematurely without his authorization. Engineering teams believed that this was unlikely. Subsequent independent technical review of the incident raised doubts regarding the incident report's conclusions that Grissom blew the hatch and was responsible for the loss of the spacecraft. There is strong evidence that the Astronaut Office didn't accept Grissom's guilt in the fact that he was maintained in the prime rotation spot for future flights, commanding the first GeminiProject Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
flight and the first planned Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
flight.
Two Mercury flights later, Astronaut Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra
Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was an American test pilot, United States Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's effort to put humans in space. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs...
manually blew Sigma 7
Mercury-Atlas 8
Mercury-Atlas 8 was an early manned space mission, part of NASA's Mercury program. Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., orbited the Earth six times in the Sigma 7 spacecraft on October 3, 1962, in a nine-hour flight focused mainly on technical evaluation rather than on scientific experimentation...
's hatch after recovery when his spacecraft was on the deck of the recovery ship, in a deliberate attempt to dispel the rumor that Grissom might have blown Liberty Bell 7's hatch deliberately. As anticipated, the kickback from the manual trigger left Schirra with a visible injury to his right hand. Grissom was uninjured when he exited the spacecraft, as documented by his postflight physical. This strongly supports his assertion that he did not "accidentally" hit the trigger, since in that case he would have been even more likely to injure himself than with intentional activation.
Several years later, during an interview on April 12, 1965, Grissom said he thought the hatch might have been triggered because the external release lanyard came loose. On Liberty Bell 7, the external release lanyard was only held in place by a single screw. It was better secured on later flights. This theory was accepted by Guenter Wendt
Guenter Wendt
Günter F. Wendt was a German-American engineer noted for his work in the U.S. manned spaceflight program. An employee of McDonnell Aircraft and later North American Aviation, he was in charge of the spacecraft close-out crews at the launch pads for the entire Mercury and Gemini programs , and the...
, "Pad Fuehrer" for most early American manned spaceflights.
In an ironic twist of fate, the inability to quickly open a hatch contributed to Grissom's death, as well as that of Ed White
Edward Higgins White
Edward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to "walk" in space. White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the first manned Apollo mission at...
and Roger B. Chaffee
Roger B. Chaffee
Roger Bruce Chaffee was an American aeronautical engineer and a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Ed White during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy...
, in the Apollo 1
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
launch-pad fire. Use of an explosive hatch had been rejected following the discovery by engineers that, in fact, an explosive egress system on a spacecraft could inadvertently fire without being triggered. Following the Apollo fire, Block II Apollo spacecraft were equipped with rapid-opening systems.
Recovery of Liberty Bell 7
On July 20, 1999, the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
lunar landing and one day shy of the 38th anniversary of Mercury 4's flight, Oceaneering International, Inc. lifted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft off the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and onto the deck of a recovery ship. The team was led by Curt Newport and financed by the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
.
The spacecraft was found after a 14-year effort by Newport at a depth of nearly 15,000 ft (4.5 km), 300 NM
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
(550 km) east-southeast of Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
and was in surprisingly good condition. Some of the interior aluminum
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
panels showed deterioration, but some fabric pieces, including Grissom's personal parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
, were intact. The recovery failed to answer the questions surrounding the prematurely-blown hatch. The recovery team ran out of time and was not able to continue the search for the hatch itself. A camera operating during the flight was located, but it had broken open and the film inside had been ruined by seawater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
.
After Liberty Bell 7 was secured on the deck of the recovery ship, experts removed and disposed of an explosive device (SOFAR bomb
Sofar bomb
In oceanography, a sofar bomb , occasionally also referred to as a sofar disc, is a long-range position-fixing system that uses explosive sounds in the deep sound channel of the ocean to pinpoint the location of ships or crashed planes...
) that was supposed to detonate in the event of the spacecraft's sinking, but which failed to explode. The spacecraft was then placed in a container filled with seawater to prevent further corrosion. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is a museum and educational facility in Hutchinson, Kansas that is best known for the display and restoration of spaceflight artifacts and educational camps...
disassembled and cleaned the spacecraft, and released it for a national tour through September 15, 2006. The spacecraft was then returned to the Cosmosphere where it is on permanent display. Liberty Bell 7 is the only flown American spacecraft owned by a museum other than the National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...
.
Mercury Redstone sub-orbital flight events
| T+ Time | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| T+00:00:00 | Liftoff | Mercury-Redstone lifts off, onboard clock starts. |
| T+00:00:16 | Pitch Program | Redstone pitches over 2 deg/s from 90 deg to 45 deg. |
| T+00:00:40 | End Pitch Program | Redstone reaches 45 deg pitch. |
| T+00:01:24 | Max Q | Maximum dynamic pressure ~575 lbf/ft² (28 kPa). |
| T+00:02:20 | BECO | Redstone engine shutdown - Booster Engine Cutoff. Velocity 5,200 mph (2.3 km/s) |
| T+00:02:22 | Tower Jettison | Escape Tower Jettison, no longer needed. |
| T+00:02:24 | Spacecraft Separation | Posigrade rockets fire for 1 s giving 15 ft/s (4.6 m/s) separation. |
| T+00:02:35 | Turnaround Maneuver | Spacecraft (ASCS) system rotates spacecraft 180 deg, to heat shield forward attitude. Nose is pitched down 34 deg to retro fire position. |
| T+00:05:00 | Apogee | Apogee of about 115 mi (185 km) reached at 150 mi (240 km) downrange from launch site. |
| T+00:05:15 | Retrofire | Three retro rockets fire for 10 s each. They are started at 5 s intervals, firing overlaps. Delta-V of 550 ft/s (168 m/s) is taken off forward velocity. |
| T+00:05:45 | Retract Periscope | Periscope is automatically retracted in preparation for reentry. |
| T+00:06:15 | Retro Pack Jettison | One minute after retrofire retro pack is jettisoned, leaving heatshield clear. |
| T+00:06:20 | Retro Attitude Maneuver | (ASCS) orients spacecraft in 34 deg nose down pitch, 0 deg roll, 0 deg yaw. |
| T+00:07:15 | .05 g Maneuver | (ASCS) detects beginning of reentry and rolls spacecraft at 10 deg/s to stabilize spacecraft during reentry. |
| T+00:09:38 | Drogue Parachute Deploy | Drogue parachute deployed at 22,000 ft (6.7 km) slowing descent to 365 ft/s (111 m/s) and stabilizing spacecraft. |
| T+00:09:45 | Snorkel Deploy | Fresh air snorkel deploys at 20,000 ft (6 km). (ECS) switches to emergency oxygen rate to cool cabin. |
| T+00:10:15 | Main Parachute Deploy | Main parachute deploys at 10,000 ft (3 km). Descent rate slows to 30 ft/s (9 m/s) |
| T+00:10:20 | Landing Bag Deploy | Landing Bag Deploys, dropping heat shield down 4 ft (1.2 m). |
| T+00:10:20 | Fuel Dump | Remaining hydrogen peroxide fuel automatically dumped. |
| T+00:15:30 | Splashdown | Spacecraft lands in water about 300 mi (500 km) downrange from launch site. |
| T+00:15:30 | Rescue Aids Deploy | Rescue aid package deployed. The package includes green dye marker, recovery radio beacon and whip antenna. |
External links
- Field Guide to American Spacecraft Pictures of Liberty Bell 7 on display after recovery and restoration.