NASA launched first ever Mercury spacecraft Atlas 4 (MA-4) on this day in 1961

On this day September 13, 1961, NASA launched Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) from Cape Canaveral, a special craft that consisted of vibration and ise instrumentation and a mechanical crewman simulator for first time ever. It was NASA’s first Mercury craft to orbit Earth at 123 nautical miles. This flight was an orbital test of Mercury Tracking Network and first successful orbital flight test of Mercury program. NASA’s previous successful launches were suborbital. paylo of craft consisted of a pilot simulator to test environmental controls, two voice tapes to check tracking network, a life support system, three cameras, and instrumentation to monitor levels of ise, vibration, and riation. 

“It demonstrated ability of Atlas rocket to lift Mercury capsule into orbit, of capsule and its systems to operate completely automously, and succeeded in obtaining pictures of Earth,” NASA said in release.

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Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) completed one orbit prior to returning to Earth in an extraordinary landing. capsule was recovered 161 miles east of Bermuda 82 minutes after splash-down by destroyer USS Decatur. According to NASA as craft triggered retrogre rockets, it sank in Atlantic Ocean in mysterious Bermuda. 

[Mercury-Atlas 4  began this morning in a blast of fire on a Florida launchp and lasted one hour and fifty minutes.  Credit: NASA]

Launched on shorter-ranged IRBM

Later, three deviations from craft were observed, failure of an inverter in environmental control system, loss of voice contact over Australia, and oxygen system leaks. At that time, United States h shorter-ranged IRBMs, sufficient only to launch small paylos into , unlike Russians that anunced that ir first ICBM in 1957. ICBM is used to launch something as heavy as a manned ship, refore, US tested Atlas with Mercury capsule for an unmanned orbital flight. 

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