NASA TECHNICAL NOTE NASA TN D -c_ c,I SECOND UNITED STATES MANNED THREE-PASS ORBITAL MISSION (MERCURY-ATLAS 7, SPACECRAFT 18) DESCRIPTION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS Edited by John H. Boynton Munned Spucecruft Center Houston, Texus NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, D. C. FEBRUARY 1967 b .E" i i I I NASA TN D-3814 SECOND UNITED STATES MANNED THREE-PASS ORBITAL MISSION (MERCURY-ATLAS 7, SPACECRAFT 18) DESCRIPTION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS Edited by John H. Boynton Manned Spacecraft Center Houston, Texas NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION .. - For sale by the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information Springfield, Virginia 22151 - Price 53.75 FOREWORD The second United States manned orbital flight has added significantly to the knowledge gained from the previous orbital flight. An overall analysis of the mission performance is presented and only the minimum necessary supporting data is included. General acknowledgement is made of the extensive effort on the part of the entire Mercury team. This team, consisting of many organizations that are external to the Manned Spacecraft Center, notably includes the Department of Defense, the spacecraft prime contractor and its subcontractors, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the Mercury Worldwide. Network, the launch vehicle prime contractor and its subcon- tractors, and, in general, the many organizations and government agencies which directly or indirectly made possible the success of this flight. The contents of this report represent the contributions of an assigned flight evaluation team, which comprised system specialists and operations personnel from throughout the Manned Spacecraft Center, without whose analytical and documentary efforts a report of this technical completeness would not have been possible. i ABSTRACT The results and analysis of the second United States manned orbital flight accomplished on May 24, 1962, as a phase of Project Mercury are presented. Spacecraft and launch vehicle descriptions, mission operations, and postflight analyses are included. Particular treatment is given to the investigations of spacecraft systems performance and the aeromedical analyses of the astronaut. ii CONTENTS Section Page ___-~SUMMARY .............................. 1 INTRODUCTION 3 ~~ ............................ SPACE VEHICLE DESCRIPTION ..................... 5 -~ ..... SPACECRAFTDESCRIPTION .................... 5 LAUNCH VEHICLE DESCRIPTION .................. 7 MISSION OPERATIONS ......................... 13 PRELAUNCHOPERATIONS ..................... 13 Astronaut Training ....................... 13 Spacecraft Prelaunch Preparations ................ 14 Spacecraft History ....................... 14 Launch Vehicle Preparation ................... 15 Flight-Safety Reviews ..................... 15 LAUNCH OPERATIONS ....................... 16 Launch Proc e dure ....................... 16 Weather Conditions ....................... 17 Photographic Coverage ..................... 18 FLIGHTCONTROLOPERATIONS .................. 19 RECOVERYOPERATIONS ...................... 21 RecoveryPlans ......................... 22 Recovery Procedure ...................... 22 Recovery Aids ......................... 22 iii 1- Section Page MISSION PERFORMANCE ........................ 51 SPACECRAFTPERFORMANCE ................... 51 Spacecraft Control System ................... 51 Reaction Control System .................... 54 Environmental Control System .................. 55 Communications System .................... 58 Electrical ahd Sequential Systems ................ 59 Instrumentation System ..................... 62 Heat Protection System ..................... 65 Mechanical and Pyrotechnic Systems ............... 66 Postflight Inspection ...................... 69 Scientific Experiments ..................... 70 AEROMEDICAL ANALYSIS ..................... 76 Clinical Examinations ..................... 77 Physiological Data ....................... 78 Mission Observations ...................... 82 Conclusions .......................... 83 ASTRONAUT FLIGHT ACTIVmIES .................. 84 Spacecraft Attitude Control and Flight Procedures ......... 85 Scientific Equipment ...................... 88 ASTRONAUT'S FLIGHT REPORT ................... 89 Launch Phase ......................... 89 Orbital Flight Phase ...................... 90 Retrograde and Reentry Phase .................. 93 iv Section Page Landing ............................ 95 Egress ............................ 96 Recovery ........................... 96 Concluding Remarks ...................... 97 LAUNCHVEHICLEPERFORMANCE ................. 98 Hydraulics ........................... 98 Abort Sensing and Implementation System ............. 98 Airframe ........................... 98 Guidance ........................... 99 TRAJECTORY AND MISSION EVENTS ................ 100 Sequence of Events ....................... 100 Flight Trajectory ....................... 100 MERCURY NETWORK PERFORMANCE ............... 102 Trajectory ........................... 102 Telemetry ........................... 104 Command System ........................ 105 Communications ........................ 106 CONCLUDING. REMARKS ........................ 189 REFERENCES ............................. 191 V II 1111111~I .. I TABLES Table Page I PILOT PREFLIGHT PREPARATION HISTORY .......... 24 11 TIME PILOT SPENT IN SPACECRAFT 18 DURING HANGAR AND PADTESTS ......................... 28 I11 SUMMARY OF PILOT TRAINING ON THE AIR LUBRICATED FREE ATTITUDE TRAINER AND PROCEDURES TRAINERS ...... 29 IV MODIFICATIONS MADE TO SPACECRAFT 18 .......... 31 V SPACECRAFT PREFLIGHT TESTS ................ 33 VI ATLANTIC MISSILE RANGE OPTICAL COVERAGE OF LAUNCH AND REENTRY PHASES ................... 34 VI1 CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT RECOVERY EVENTS ........................... 35 VI11 SPACECRAFT FUEL CONSUMPTION .............. 108 Ix RESULTS OF POSTFLIGHT INSPECTION OF SPACECRAFT 18 THRUST CHAMBERS ..................... 109 X GENERAL ACTIVITIES OF THE ASTRONAUT OF THE MA-” MISSION ........................ 110 XI MA-7 AEROMEDICAL COUNTDOWN EVENTS .......... 111 XI1 PREFLIGHT AND POSTFLIGHT MEDICAL FINDINGS ....... 112 XI11 PREFLIGHT AND POSTFLIGHT LABORATORY ANALYSES .... 113 XIV SUMMARY OF BLOOD-PRESSURE DATA ............. 115 xv SUMMARY OF CONTROL SYSTEM USAGE ............ 116 XVI SEQUENCE OF EVENTS .................... 122 XVII COMPARISON OF PLANNED AND ACTUAL TRAJECTORY PARAMETERS ........................ 123 XVIII ORBITAL INSERTION CONDITIONS AVAILABLE AT MERCURY CONTROL CENTER ..................... 125 XIX RADAR TRACKING DATA .................... 126 vi Table Page XX LANDING POINT TRACKING DATA ................ 128 XXI TELEMETRY PERFORMANCE .................. 129 XXII COMMAND HANDOVER SUMMARY ................ 131 XXIII COMMAND FUNCTION SUMMARY ................ 133 vii ..... .. FIGURES Figure Page 1 Preflight photograph of Astronauts Schirra (MA-7 backup pilot), Carpenter (MA-7 pilot) and Glenn (MA-6 pilot). Spacecraft Engineer Graham (ground crew) is at extreme right ...... 4 2 Astronauts Carpenter and Glenn during an informal postflight discussion. ........................ 4 3 MA-7 Launch configuration at lift-off .............. 9 4 Sketch showing general configuration .............. 10 5 MA-7 Spacecraft 18 mounted on the launch vehicle. (Preflight checkout photograph showing ground- support -equipment still attached. ) ......................... 11 6 Spacecraft axis system .................... 12 7 Spacecraft 18 prelaunch history ................ 39 8 Launch site wind direction and speed .............. 40 9 AMR engineering-sequential tracking-camera coverage ...... 41 10 Recovery areas and ship locations ............... 42 11 Contingency recovery support forces .............. 43 12 Details of landing area H ................... 46 13 Spacecraft prior to installation of auxiliary flotation collar .... 47 14 Astronaut retrieval by HSS-2 .................. 48 15 Spacecraft prior to pickup ................... 49 16 Spacecraft being hoisted aboard recovery ship .......... 50 17 Spacecraft and launch vehicle indicated attitudes during powered flight.. ......................... 134 18 Horizon scanner and gyro output during retrofire period forMA-7 ......................... 135 19 H202 fuel usage ....................... 136 viii Figure Page 20 Variation of cabin- air temperature and cabin- heat -exc hanger steam - exhaust temperature and associated coolant control valve settings withtime .......................... 137 21 Variation of suit inlet temperature and suit-heat-exchanger steam- exhaust temperature and associated coolant control valve settings with time ...................... 138 22 Variation of 150 V-amp and 250 V-amp inverter temperatures and associated cooling control valve settings with time ........ 139 23 Postflight photograph of Spacecraft 18 ablation shield ........ 140 24 Maximum ablation shield temperatures experienced on flights .... 140 25 Postflight photograph of Spacecraft 18 prior to disassembly in hangars.. ......................... 141 26 Logic diagram for parachute deployment system (a) Schematic diagram ..................... 142 (b) Key to components shown in part (a) of this fugure ....... 143 27 Spacecraft 18 depicting postflight damage to landing bag and suspen- sion straps ......................... 144 28 Sketch showing location of valves in spacecraft small pressure bulkhead .......................... 145 29 Balloon experiment planned deployment configuration ........ 146 30 Z ero-gravit y experiment (a) Flight