Mercury-Atlas 1

Overview

Destination: Suborbital
Mission: Test Flight

Suborbital Space Launch Complex 14 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9.1 km) and 11,000 feet (3.4 km) down range.

Atlas LV-3B

Family:
Configuration: LV-3B

The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by American aircraft manufacturing company Convair, it was derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile, and was a member of the Atlas family of rockets.

Specifications
  • Stages
    1
  • Length
    28.7 m
  • Diameter
    3.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    4.9 m
  • Launch Mass
    120.0 T
  • Thrust
    1300.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Atlas LV-3B
  • Family
  • Variant
    LV-3B
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Atlas LV-3B
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1360.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Mercury No.4


In-active Human Rated Unmanned Crew Capacity: 1
Destination: Suborbital
Serial Number: 4

Mercury No.4 is the Mercury capsule used for the Mercury-Atlas 1 flight.

Mercury Details

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Acting Administrator: James Free Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 Failures: 20 Pending: 5

Agency Type:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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