VOL. 1, NO. 4 MANNED SPACECRAFTCENTER, LANGLEY AFB, VA. DECEMBER13, 1961 MA-5 Fllgh Termed Success Project Mercury Announces Glenn, Slayton Are Named Plans For Two-Man Spacecraft For Orbital Missions Manned Spacecraft Center officials expressed pleasure with the suc- National Aeronautics and Space ing misisons. Another possibility is cessful two-orbit flight of the Mercury-Alas 5 spacecraft which was Administration's Manned Space- the direct flight approach using a craft Center is extending its Pro- multi-million pound thrust Nova launched at Cape Canaveral at 10:07 am November 29. The spacecraft ject Mercury effort to develop man- booster. Both methods will be ex- was brought back to earth after two orbits when difficulties with the ned space flight rendezvous ted> plored in order to meet the national control system were noted. niques by producing a two-man goal of manned lunar landing by The retro-rockets were fired by Arnold Aldrich of MSC's Flight spacecraft. The new craft will be ]970. Operations Division, on command speaking a little later about the capable of docking with another NASA will negotiate with Mc- of Chris Kraft, Flight Director. A1- launch said "the boost was about vehicle while in Earth orbit. Donnell Aircraft Corporation of S_. drich was serving as Chief Flight as near perfect as you would ex- Orbital rendezvous is one con- Louis, blo., as prime contractor of Controller at the Point Argudlo, pect to see." sideration for carrying out later the new spacecraft. Based on the Calif., tracking station. Others participating in the press Project Apollo manned lunar land- (Continued to page 7) At a press conference held at conference w e r e D. Brainerd the press site being used at the Holmes, NASA's Director of Man- Cape following the recovery of the ned Space Flight; Maj. Gen. Leigh- spacecraft by the USS Stormes ton I. Davis, Commander, Air about 264 statute miles south of Force Missile Test Center; Maj. Bermuda, MSC Robert R. Gilruth Gen. O. J. Ritland, Commander, THE LIFT-OFF as the MA-5 said " . I would say we had Space Systems Division, Air Force flight began at Cape Canaver- superb performance exhibited to- Systems Command; Rear Admiral al November 29. The powerful day on the part of all the various John L. Chew, Commander, Des- At|as vehicle placed the Mer- teams and on the part of the troyer Flotilla 4, and Commander cury spacecraft into orbit, equipment. This includes the Atlas of the Mercury Recovery Forces; boost to orbit, the Atlantic Missile Dr. James P. Henry, Assistant Range support, the network and Chief of MSC's Life Systems Divi- USC Developed the_h_ cnetworkheck-out teams,teams, thethe spacecraft,manufac- nautssion; Johnand ProjectH. Glenn,MercuryJr., andAstro-M. Sp Eq i_ turing teams and the Navy Recov- Scott Carpenter. ecial u ment ::_ ---v'_ ery Forces. I would also like to say Near the end of the conference Fligh that the fact that we decided to Gilruth announced that two pilot For MA- 5 t terminate the flight at the end of teams had been selected for Project The equipment used to record the second orbit lost very little of" Mercury's initial manned orbital the blood pressure of Enos during -_ "_* the spacecraft and other scientific space flights. He named Glenn as his orbital flight was developed by data that we were after." pilot for the first flight, with Car- the Department of Physiologyof . _ Waiter C. Williams, Associate penter serving as backup. Alan B. the University of Southern Call- Director of MSC and Operations fornia under the direction of Dr. D_rector for Project Mercury, (Continued to page 7) John P. Meehan. Dr. Neehan announced that the small instrument shop of the de- partment started work on the basic designs for the sensor units and the recorderused in the flight about a year ago, and since March THE WEST COAST of Mexico is viewed from the Mercury space- produced a prototype in addition craft during its first orbit, one hour and 21 minutes after lift-off. to a number of models which un- derwent extensive rests at the Mc- befDonnelore l thplante equipinmentSt. Louis,which Mowas., Next Mercury Orbital Flight used in Wednesday's flight was manufactured. Will Be Manned - Gilruth The sensor units, mounted on a water bottle beva, een the chim- MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth has announced that the next Pro- panzee's legs in the couch, measur- ject Mercury orbital flight will be manned. The announcement was made ed the arterial and venous pres- last Wednesday at NASA Headquarters. He said that based on all avail- sures by means of very small tubes injected into the animal's legs. able data, including preliminary The recorder, a galvanometer analysis of MA-5 information, it TRANSFERS TO HOUSTON oscillograph, recorded the arterial appears that no further animal or and venous pressure on 16 mm unmanned flights are needed be- A total of 10 more MSC per- II film which was activated when fore attempting the specifiication sonnel have recently effected per- Enos was placed in the spacecraft Mercury mission manned orbital manent change of station to Hous- and had the capabilityof operating flight, ton. 16 hours continually. Analysis of MA-5 chimpanzee They are: James bicBride, Jr., This equipment is the first flight performance and post-flight Flight Systems Division; Abner M. known to record blood pressure physical condition of Enos, to- Askew and June A. Giles, Budget during an orbital space flight and gether with detailed study of space- and Finance Office; Patricia N. was developed especially for the craft, booster and tracking network Kincaide, Transportation; William Mercury-Atlas 5 mission. Addition- operations, confirm that the Mer- C. Kincaide, Douglas J. Geier and al information concerning the ef- cury-Atlas system is ready for the Lt. Robert G. Devine, Life Systems feet of prolonged weightlessness next orbital flight. Division; Douglas R. Broome, Jr., THE MERCURY-ATLAS S SPACECRAFT is shown just after its on blood pressure will be available Final preparations for MA-6 are and William W. Petynia, Apollo return to Cape Canaveral after its orbital mission was completed after a study of the film has been progressing satisfactorily for a Projects Office; and Thomas D. and recovery effected. Public Affairs Officer John A Powers is made. launch attempt early next year. Conger, Construction Office. shown looking at the inside of the capsule. PAGE 2 DECEMBER 13, 1961 SPACE NEWS ROUNDUP MCC Operations Prove Complex and Exciting The Mercury Control Center, 1. They monitor the launching A large animated world map at is mandatory or highly desirable for mits chose persons to hear all the located at Cape Canaveral, is the of each booster and control or com- the front of the operations room the mission and either it cannot be voice traffic. The observation room nerve center of all Mercury flights, mand the abort of a mission if such indicates all the stations on the repaired or there is no estimated can accommodate about 50 persons It houses the operations room, re- action is required, network, encircled, and in addi- time of repair, and this room is normally used by covery room, communications room, 2. They man the center as one (2) If yellow, the instrumenta- MSC Director R. R. Gilruth, rep- and many other facilities including of the world-wide sites for track- tion, there are lines from the sta- tion is mandatory or highly desir- resentatives of NASA Headquar- a procedures trainer and the obser- ing, telemetry receiving, command, tions, themselves, to Alphanumeric able for the mission, and it is ex- ters and other VIPs. ration room at the rear of the and voice communications during Indicators which list the stations pected to be repaired prior to The communications division operations room. orbital passes of the capsule, at Cape Canaveral, Bermuda, At- launch, plays a vital role in the operation Activity in all these areas sta#ts 3. They monitor normal re-entry lantic Ocean Ship, Canary Islands, (3) If green, the instrumenta- of Mercury Control Center and in many hours prior to the actual of a spacecraft into the earth's at- Kano, Nigeria; Zanzibar, Indian tion is desired for the mission but this division there is an almost un- launch time with the hub of all mosphere and direct the recovery Ocean Ship, Muchea, Australia; will not delay count progress, believable amount of traffic moved, the action in the operations room. operations. Woomera, Australia, Canton Is- The observation room at the both incoming and outgoing ,dur- In this room is the Recovery Mercury Control Center has land, Kuai, Hawaii; Pt. Arguello, rear of the operations room has a ing the period of a Mercury mis- Commander (USN), the Opera- direct contact with the capsule, the Calif.; Guaymas, Mexico; and Cor- glass front which permits those in- sion. tions Director, the Network Com- launch pad, and its associated pus Christi, Tex. Additional track- side to view the activities of the The recovery rooms are manned mander (USAF), two Procedures blockhouse through its telemetry ing stations of the Mercury net- pad by one of the three television by both Navy and NASA person- Monitors, the Flight Director, Net- and communications facilities, work which are not displayed are receivers; and after the launch they neL Here again there are a num- work Status Monitor, Missile Tele- In addition, it is connected to White Sands Missile Range, N. can observe the progress of the ber of teletypewriters as well as metry Monitor, four Strip Chart computing and communications Mex.; Air Proving Ground Center, spacecraft by watching the elec- other communications equipment Recorders, Support Control Co- facilities of the Goddard Space and Goddard Space Flight Center.