“Mercury-Jupiter” is a subprogram of the American space program “Mercury” , under which it was planned in 1959-1960, using the Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile to launch sub-orbital launches of Mercury capsules. In total, two missions were planned - Mercury-Jupiter-1 (MJ-1) and Mercury-Jupiter-2 (MJ-2). July 1, 1959, less than a year after the start of the project (October 1958), the subprogramme was canceled due to budget constraints [1] .
Mercury-Jupiter-1 and -2 | |
---|---|
General information | |
Ship flight data | |
Ship name | Mercury-Jupiter-1 and -2 (MJ-1 and -2) |
Carrier rocket | Jupiter |
Launch | 1959 - 1960 00:00:00 UTC |
Going into orbit | Suborbital |
Flight duration | sec |
Apogee | km |
Weight | kg |
Flight crew data | |
Related expeditions | |
Content
Background
Under this subprogram, the Jupiter launch vehicle was proposed by NASA for suborbital flights in October 1958 . The rocket met the requirements of NASA, it was able to lift the Mercury capsule-ship to an altitude of about 500 km at apogee, reach a speed of about 14,000 km / h and with a flight range of 2500 km. When calculations of the launch and return stages were carried out, it turned out that when the capsule entered the atmosphere at a speed of 10,000 km / h and braked, the astronaut would experience overloads up to 40 g, so the rocket could be used for flights with a man on board only unfinished that in the presence of a lighter and cheaper carrier " Redstone " was unprofitable.
The launch of the Jupiter missile for testing the Mercury capsule, in January 1959, was considered as an addition to flying on the Redstone and Atlas launch vehicles. The first start - “Mercury-Jupiter-1” (MJ-1) suggested testing the shield of high-temperature protection. The second flight of "Mercury-Jupiter", with chimpanzees on board, was planned to create the maximum dynamic head for the qualification tests of the serial spacecraft "Mercury" [2] .
Flight Cancel [3]
- On October 6, 1958, NASA begins negotiations on the purchase of the Jupiter and Redstone LVs from the United States Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA, short . Army Ballistic Missile Agency ).
- On December 2, 1958, NASA negotiates the cost of the Jupiter and Redstone.
- On January 16, 1959, NASA orders 2 Jupiter PH and 8 Redstone.
- On May 22, 1959, NASA confirmed the HS-44 contract (Redstone) and waived HS-54 (Jupiter).
- On July 1, 1959, NASA abandoned the Jupiter launch vehicle in favor of Atlas, due to the high cost of starts - just 2 starts needed to build a separate launch pad.
- On July 8, 1959, NASA officially announced participation in the Mercury program of the Redstone and Atlas RNs.
See also
- Gemini
- Animals in space
- Monkeys in space
Notes
- ↑ NASA SP-4001
- ↑ Mercury-Jupiter 2 (MJ-2) Archived June 17, 2012.
- ↑ Jupiter