MERCURY REDSTONE FILM

(The following is a transcription of the film's soundtrack :)

(This is the Mercury-Redstone I, MR-I, ready for launch at Cape Canavaral, Fla., from launch complex No. 5. The spacecraft is a production-line version. This spacecraft is destined to make a successful flight over a ballistic flight path. It will not carry man, but will help pave the way for man in space.

Mercury spacecraft are produced at the St. Louis plant of the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. Hundreds of subcontractors, suppliers and vendors furnished components and subsystems for this complex spaceage vehicle. Development time in Mercury has been compressed by simultaneous research, development, engineering, manufacturing, training, and tests. The first production Mercury spacecraft was flight-tested less than 18 months after the initiation of the program. At the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala., the Redstone boosters are modified and tested. The MR-I booster was fabricated here. The Redstone booster modifications include elongation of the tank section to increase fuel capacity, engine and control system simplification, a mission abort system, and an adapter section to house control equipment.

A special electronic brain is installed to sense possible trouble in time to permit the spacecraft and the astronaut to escape. All parts and components for Mercury-Redstone boosters are inspected and tagged when approved. Every possible precaution is taken to insure reliability.

At the McDonnell plant, Mercury spacecraft are assembled in a super-clean "white room"; here every effort is made to make the craft as reliable as humanly possible. Cleanliness approaches hospital operating room standards. Every individual component going into the craft is minutely inspected. The electronic systems in the craft require some 7 miles of wiring. Special harness boards are used to assemble the growing mass of wire. Assemble it by hand, then check your work. Onboard systems for MR-I must be wired properly, then set to operate automatically, for there will be no human pilot on this flight to correct malfunctions.

Attach sensors at key points to tell you how the craft performs in flight. Data measurements from 90 points and telemetry transmitters to send back information in flight; structural heating and stresses; cabin temperatures; pressures; noise; vibration; g.'s.

The airframe grows with its double-walled afterbody with insulating material between the walls. The heat-resistant shingles are in place.

It begins to look more like a Mercury spacecraft now. Add components, then check your work again. Every subsystem is tested and retested to make sure it operates properly. Combine subsystems and test them again. Record your data. Then, complete systems tests.

Make certain that all of your instrumentation and control and recording equipment are in the proper place. The instrument panel is installed. All the interior equipment must be secured for the jarring flight into space. MR-I spacecraft is complete. It measures 6 feet across its face and stands 9 feet high. With its escape tower in place, the overall length is 241⁄2 feet.

The completed MR-I spacecraft was airlifted to the Marshall Space Flight Center where it received extensive compatibility tests with the MR-I booster. In addition to the electrical and mechanical checks, a long series of tests was performed to preclude the possibility of radio frequency interference between the spacecraft and the booster systems. The booster-spacecraft combination underwent a simulated countdown, launch and flight using the same checkout and firing panels used at Cape Canaveral for the actual launch. The Redstone booster for MR-I was fitted with a test version of the spacecraft and static tested. Each booster is static fired before shipment to Cape Canaveral.

When the spacecraft arrives at Cape Canaveral, it is sent directly to hangar S. It had been checked and tested again and again; first at McDonnell, then at Huntsville, but the pyramid of testing had just begun. Immediately after arrival it rolls into hangar S. Inspect its heat-resistant outer skin to be sure it has not been damaged in moving. Check your inspection with a prepared checklist. Then move to hangar S "white room," where every system is rechecked to make sure that nothing has gone wrong inside during shipment. Reliability in Project Mercury is a must. Before the craft can be mated with its booster, it must be right. The MR-I booster is delivered to the launch pad. MercuryRedstone is 83 feet tall, including the spacecraft assembly, 14 feet taller than the regular Redstone. The body of the rocket is 70 inches in diameter. Lift

off weight including the 1-ton spacecraft, is 66,000 pounds. Using alcohol and liquid oxygen, the engine delivers 70,000 pounds of thrust. The additional fuel gained by elongating the fuel tanks, increases the burning time by about 20 seconds.

The spacecraft arrives at the launch pad; time now for booster and spacecraft to be mated; Mercury-Redstone I. After mating the pyramid of testing continues. All the subsystems, all the systems, must now fit together like a hand in a glove and function perfectly. The Mercury-Redstone program has two objectives: to qualify the spacecraft in a space environment, and provide training for the astronauts.

On November 7, 1960, the MR-I countdown for launch progressed for more than 12 hours. During the last 4 hours concern mounted over apparent pressure leakage from the attitude control system. Less than one-half hour before launch, the mission was scrubbed. Before launch could be rescheduled the attitude control system had to be repaired and a complete checkout performed on the booster and the spacecraft.

On November 21, 1960, MR-I was again scheduled for launch and the countdown began. Everything proceeded normally and all checks forecasted a successful launch. The repaired attitude control system on the spacecraft checked out perfectly. Weather was good all the way down the Atlantic Range. Tracking and telemetry equipment were completely operational and ready to go.

The recovery forces were deployed in the prescribed landing area ready to pick up the spacecraft. The countdown neared zero. The Redstone engine fired, then shut down almost immediately. The escape tower fired. The antenna canister lid opened, the drogue chute popped, followed by the main chute and then the reserve parachute. When the spacecraft received the engine shutdown signal it began to do exactly what it was supposed to do. In response to the signals received, the craft functioned properly. Both the escape rocket and the parachute recovery system went through the normal sequence of action. Careful examination of telemetry data and the booster itself, showed the premature engine shutdown to be caused by a relatively simple fault in a piece of ground support equipment.

During the launch attempt the booster was damaged. It was removed from the pad and shipped back to the Marshall Space Flight Center to be repaired. Within a few days, a new Redstone booster arrived at Cape Canaveral. The booster received a complete prelaunch checkout and was OK'd for mating with the spacecraft. The spacecraft is the same one used in the earlier launch attempt. It appeared to be undamaged, but, of course, had to be rechecked to make certain all systems would still operate properly. They checked out. Also, since many of the systems had been activated in the launch attempt, expendable parts had to be replaced.

The MR-I spacecraft had several specific objectives. First, investigate the compatibility of the booster-spacecraft combination during a flight designed to give a maximum acceleration of 6 g., a period of weightlessness of approximately 5 minutes, and reentry deceleration of 11g. Second, qualify the posigrade rockets that separate the spacecraft from the boosters. Third, qualify the recovery system. Last, qualify the launch, tracking and recovery phases of the operation.

On the night before the launch, MR-I received its final checks and the countdown began. December 19-MR-I is ready to go again. The countdown proceeded normally with only one short delay. The recovery forces are in place, ready to pick up the spacecraft. In the Project Mercury Control Center, flight control personnel are ready for launch. This is the nerve center for the mission. Once MR-I is launched, they will take over until the craft is recovered. Downrange the landing area is well covered. In addition, other elements of the recovery forces are deployed along the entire flight path in case something goes wrong. The launch is only seconds away and the flight control director is ready to take over. Radar and telemetry equipment is ready. This is another test in the pyramid of testing. Flight test-another step toward man in space.

After a perfect launch, MR-I followed a normal flight test profile. The spacecraft, weighing about 1 ton, follows a ballistic arc, peaking at approximately 130-mile altitude and landing 235 statute miles downrange. The complete flight takes 16 minutes and provides a little over 5 minutes of weightlessness, or zero g. At booster burnout, the coneshaped spacecraft is traveling a little over 4,000 miles an hour. Panel indicators in the Mercury Control Center record each major phase of the flight as it happens. As the accelerating vehicle passes through the

contrail level of the upper atmosphere, it etches a bright, white trail to mark its progress. At about 140 seconds after liftoff, and at an altitude of about 35 miles, the booster engine is shut down and the escape tower is jettisoned.

Here, on a condensed time scale, are the events which occur in flight in space: Fire the posigrade rockets to separate the capsule from the booster; set up the retrofiring attitude; fire the three retrorockets; then jettison the retrorocket packet; and retract the periscope. As the spacecraft encounters more dense atmosphere, the landing and recovery sequence begins. Deploy the drogue parachute, then jettison the antenna fairing to automatically deploy the main parachute until landing, then get rid of it to avoid dragging in the wind, and all on an automatic basis. Within minutes after landing, the spacecraft was picked up by helicopter and was on its way back to the primary recovery vessel just a few miles away.

Radar chaff disbursed at 10,000 feet as the main chute was deployed, provided a radar target. The underwater Sofar bomb gave an audible landing point indication. The radio beacon was received loud and clear in the search aircraft. Sea marker dye helped the helicopter sight the craft in the water. The MR-I flight test objectives were all accomplished. Other increasingly complex flight tests will follow.

Back at Cape Canaveral Mercury Project Director Robert R. Gilruth gets the first postflight look inside the craft, and looks well pleased at the successful results of the MR-I flight test.

Mr. Low. This completes my presentation.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Low.

Dr. SEAMANS. Before our next speaker, I would like to first briefly summarize our program in terms of the appropriations which we have for fiscal 1961 as well as the appropriations which we have requested in our supplemental for 1961 and in our 1962 funding.

The chart (Fig. 85a. NASA Fiscal Year 1962 Estimates), shows a breakdown of the request in terms of salaries and expenses, research and development, and construction of facilities. You will note that the salaries and expenses show an increase from $171 to $190 million. This is largely due to an increase in the requested level of the organization of approximately 5 percent in terms of personnel. It also covers certain equipment rentals, computers, utilities, and communi

cations.

FIGURE 85A

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, fiscal year 1962 estimatesAppropriation summary

The research and development which is primarily carried out on contract shows an increase, including the 1961 supplemental of approximately 40 percent. This increase in effort is in such areas as the space science and planetary and lunar exploration. A very large percentage of the increase is going into the Saturn program. There is also some increase in satellite applications and some in space propulsion. The construction of facilities shows a decrease of approximately 20 percent.