Mercury Redstone-2

The MP-2 was part of the Mercury Project , the first United States manned space flight program. This was supposed to be the final flight test of the Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle before the first manned mission.

The previous Mercury-Redstone flight, the MP-1A , went along a path that was too steep, with great acceleration, and too high for an astronaut . The MP-1A climbed the planned climax of approximately 209 km (130 miles) and landed at a distance of 378 km (235 miles). Mercury-Redstone-2 was supposed to fly along a more smooth path. Planned flight parameters - the apogee of 185 km (115 miles) and a distance of 467 km (290 miles).

The spacecraft No. 5 contained six new systems that were not in previous flights: a life support system, an orientation control system, an environmental monitoring system, a voice messaging system, a “closed loop” emergency rescue system (CAC), and an air bag for soft landing under the bottom of the capsule.

Six chimpanzees (four females and two males), twenty medical specialists and animal trainers from the Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo , New Mexico , where the chimpanzees lived and trained, were moved to the far end of S Angara Cape Canaveral, Florida January 2, 1961. These chimpanzees were trained on Mercury simulators for three weeks. The day before the flight, two chimpanzees were chosen for the mission: the first is male Ham, and the understudy is Minnie's chimpanzee (female). The selection was tough, but Ham subdued everyone with his energy and good mood. Ham was named after the Holloman Aeromedical Center (Holloman Aero Medical, HAM). Ham was born in Cameroon , West Africa (real name Chang, Chimpanzee No. 65). It was purchased by the U.S. Air Force on July 9, 1959. At 12:53 UTC, January 31, 1961, the animal was placed on a spaceship. The countdown was delayed by almost four hours due to overheating of the inverter and several other minor problems ^[1] .

Finally, at 16:55 UTC, the MP-2 started. One minute after the launch, computers reported that the angle of inclination of the flight path is too steep and increases. Two minutes later, computers reported an overload of 17 g (167 m / s per s). 2 minutes 17 seconds after the start, the sensors determined a decrease in the supply of liquid oxygen . The emergency rescue system (CAC) with feedback "felt" the pressure change in the engine, and when the supply of liquid oxygen completely stopped, it worked and sent a message to the search services about the termination of the flight.

The large inclination of the flight path and the early operation of the emergency rescue system (CAC) led to the maximum speed of the spacecraft being 2,298 m / s (7,540 ft / s) instead of the planned 1,970 m / s (6,465 ft / s). The braking remote control was reset during a flight crash and therefore could not be used to slow down the spacecraft. All this led to the flight of the planned landing site to 209 km (130 miles) and the apogee of 253 km (157 miles) instead of 185 km (115 miles).

Another problem occurred at 2 minutes and 18 seconds after the start, when the pressure in the ship dropped from 38 to 7 kPa. The reason for the failure was found after the flight. The failure occurred due to the vent tube valve . Vibration loosened the pin in the tube valve, causing the valve to open. However, the animal was safe, as it was in its own suit , mounted on a lodgement , and did not experience unpleasant sensations from the pressure drop inside the cabin. The pressure in the spacesuit remained normal, the temperature was maintained in the optimal range of 16 - 26 ° C. Ham was in zero gravity for 6.6 minutes instead of the planned 4.9 minutes. The spacecraft was splashed 679 km (422 miles) from the launch point after 16.5 minutes of flight. Ham suffered an overload of 14.7 g (144 m / s per s) during the return, almost 3 g (29 m / s per s) more than planned ^[1] .

Ham performed his tasks well, pulling leverage about 50 times during the flight. On-board cameras, removing Ham's reaction to zero gravity, showed a surprisingly large amount of dust and crumbs floating in zero gravity inside the capsule during the passage of the apogee point.

The spacecraft was splashed around 12:12, out of sight of search services. The first signal was received approximately 12 minutes after the splashdown, when the capsule was approximately 96 km (60 miles) from the nearest search services vessel. Twenty-seven minutes after the splashdown, the search aircraft discovered a floating capsule and sent fleet rescue helicopters from the nearest vessel. When the helicopters arrived, they found the spacecraft damaged, floating on its side, in a submerged state. A heat shield made on the basis of beryllium , having hit the water, bent to the base of the capsule, breaking two holes in the bulkhead. After the capsule fell on the water, the damaged valve began to let seawater into the capsule. When the helicopter crew finally picked up and lifted the Ham spaceship aboard at 18:52 UTC., They estimated that there were approximately 360 kg (800 pounds) of seawater in the capsule. The spacecraft was transported and lowered onto the deck of the USS Donner. When the spacecraft was opened, everyone saw that Ham was in good condition and readily accepted an apple and half an orange ^[1] .

At the time of launch, Ham was 3 years 8 months old. After his space flight, he was taken to the National Zoo in Washington, DC, where he lived for 17 years and then was transferred to a North Carolina zoo in 1981 to live with a colony of other chimpanzees. He died on January 19, 1983 at the age of 26. The animal is buried at the Museum of the History of Space Exploration in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He was one of many animals in space. His understudy, Minnie's chimpanzee, was the only female chimpanzee trained for the Mercury program. After her role in the Mercury program ended, Minnie became part of the U.S. Air Force chimpanzee breeding program, produced nine offspring, and helped raise cubs of several other chimpanzee colony members. She was the last living space chimpanzee. She died at the age of 41 on March 14, 1998.

Due to the large number of failures during the flight, Mercury-Redstone was still not ready for a manned flight. The flight of the MP-3 was postponed for the modernization of the ship, and the Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle too. Mercury Spacecraft No. 5, used in the flight Mercury-Redstone-2, is currently located at the California Science Center, Los Angeles, California.

• Animals in space
• Gemini