Posted on 05/07/2021 3:40:36 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Sixty years ago, near the dawn of the space age, NASA controllers "lit the candle" and sent Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard arcing into space atop a Redstone rocket. His cramped space capsule was dubbed Freedom 7. Broadcast live to a global television audience, the historic Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Florida at 9:34 a.m. Eastern Time on May 5, 1961. The flight of Freedom 7, the first space flight by an American, followed less than a month after the first human venture into space by Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The 15 minute sub-orbital flight achieved an altitude of 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. As Shepard looked back near the peak of Freedom 7's trajectory, he could see the outlines of the west coast of Florida, Lake Okeechobe in central Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Bahamas. Shepard would later view planet Earth from a more distant perspective and walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 14 mission.
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1st American in space.
He flew 116 miles high.
The entire flight lasted about 15 ½ minutes.
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-alan-shepard-k4.html
10 years later he would walk on the moon.
Soviets kept their launches secret without TV or the world’s journalists watching. Ours had humiliating blowup of Vanguard attempts until Explorer succeeded.
Rumor has it early Cosmonauts died but facts were covered up. Also that dog Laika died as there were no plans for a return to earth.
Dead astronauts in space (not on launchpad on the ground) are: Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov , and Viktor Patsayev .
I used to have a pencil sharpener made from a little Mercury capsule model.
Not the first. X-15 pilots flew over 100 miles high and had to use reaction jets to correct aircraft alignment.
The Redstone launch was still a great achievement. I remember listening to it on the radio at school in the 7th grade.
That was incredible technology development in 10 years!
Wow...that brings back memories.
Watched it on black and white TV, in school. One of my earliest memories.
Alan Shepard : Sounds dangerous
Recruiter : It is! Extremely dangerous!
Alan Shepard : Count me in!
...
Alan Shepard : [hands placard out to Glenn] Not very funny, John.
John Glenn : Well, I thought it...
Alan Shepard : I do appreciate, John. I surely do.
John Glenn : [the two shake hands] Vaya con Dios, Jose.
...
Alan Shepard : Request permission to relieve bladder... Gordo... Gordo?
Gordon Cooper : Look, the man has got to go! Now it’s either that or we get out the lug wrench and pry him out...
Chief Scientist : [with resignation] Do it... in the suit.
Gordon Cooper : Jose, permission to wet your diapers anytime son.
...
Alan Shepard : Having just urinated in his spacesuit... “Well, I’m a w*****k now!”
...
Alan Shepard : He’s going into his third orbit. How much longer are you going to keep him in the dark?
Head of Program : What are we going to tell him?
Alan Shepard : He’s a pilot. You tell him the condition of his craft.
...
Frank Sharp (Texan) : Which one are you?
Alan Shepard : Shepard.
Frank Sharp (Texan) : Oh yeah? Well, which one’s Glenn? He’s the one I want to meet.
Alan Shepard : He’s right over there.
Frank Sharp (Texan) : ‘Scuse me.
Alan Shepard : [to his wife] Louise, I’m going to the moon, I swear to God. I’m on my way.
Note the fact that this was an actual launch PAD, a flat level stretch of concrete with a minimal stand for the rocket. Contrast that with what came in the following short years, an engineered launch platform with a flame pit that directed the exhaust down and out to the sides. A water bath that helped disperse the shock waves before they could damage the rocket. Lots of hidden innovations, unseen to the general public.
One of my favorite sequences in “Right Stuff” was that astronauts watching one rocket after another blow up.
Balls of brass to get in one of those things after that.
I can’t imagine what that was like.
Full Freedom 7 mission audio and a few video clips. Simulation animations are used for trajectory.
9Gs on re-entry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xd9kg-fJ9g
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