Mercury-Redstone 3

• 1. Delays And Safety Concerns

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  Mercury capsule number seven arrived at Cape Canaveral on the 9th of December, 1960. Engineers expected a quick launch but found extensive development work was required before flight safety could be confirmed. The booster originally intended for this mission, Redstone number three, had been delivered in early December but was reassigned to an MR-1A test flight on the 19th of that same month. A replacement booster, Redstone number seven, did not reach the Cape until late March. By then, another test flight called MR-BD had already pushed the schedule back. This new flight launched on the 28th of March and ensured the crewed mission could proceed without further significant delay.

  Safety concerns drove these delays after the MR-2 test flight carrying Ham the chimpanzee experienced technical problems during launch. That spacecraft flew too high and too fast, subjecting Ham to 14.7g instead of the planned 12g. The splashdown point ended up sixty miles from the nearest recovery ship. It took over two and a half hours to recover the capsule and its passenger by helicopter. By that time, the capsule had almost sunk. NASA made seven major alterations to the booster which required testing before any human flight would be attempted.

• 2. Countdown And Breakfast

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  The initial launch attempt on the 2nd of May, 1961, was canceled due to weather problems two hours and twenty minutes before the scheduled time. Shepard waited in a hangar already suited and prepared for liftoff. The flight rescheduled for two days later faced another day of inclement weather conditions. The final countdown began at 8:30 p.m. the previous night with Shepard eating steak and eggs with toast, coffee, and orange juice. He entered the spacecraft at 5:15 a.m. ET just over two hours before the planned 7:20 a.m. launch time.

  Cloud cover forced a one-hour hold at 7:05 a.m. to allow visibility for photographs. Another hold followed to reboot a computer at Goddard Space Flight Center. Unplanned holds lasted slightly over two and a half hours total. Shepard lay on his back in the capsule for almost three hours during these delays. He complained to the blockhouse crew about a severe need to urinate since no urine collection device existed for missions under twenty minutes long. The crew told him they could not set up the White Room again without wasting considerable time removing the heavily bolted hatch. An irate Shepard announced he would simply urinate in his suit if allowed out. When officials protested that this might short out medical electrodes, he told them to turn off the power. They complied and Shepard emptied his bladder.

• 3. Manual Control Tests

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  Mercury-Redstone 3 lifted off at 9:34 a.m. ET watched by an estimated 45 million television viewers in the United States. Shepard experienced maximum acceleration of 6.3g just before the Redstone engine shut down two minutes and 22 seconds after launch. Ten seconds later came capsule separation when explosive bolts detonated on the Marman clamping ring. The automated attitude control system then yawed Freedom 7 around 180 degrees so retrorockets faced forward ready for firing.

  Shepard began testing manual control of the spacecraft's orientation using a different set of control jets than the automatic system. He gradually assumed manual control one axis at a time leaving remaining axes to the automatic system. First he took manual control of pitch reorienting the spacecraft from orbit attitude to retrofire attitude. Then he returned to orbit attitude before taking manual control of yaw along with pitch. Finally he assumed control of roll as well testing it and restoring normal roll. Once Shepard controlled all three axes he found the spacecraft's manual response matched that of the Mercury simulator though he could not hear the jets firing due to background noise levels.

• 4. Recovery And Technical Findings

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  Splashdown occurred with impact comparable to landing a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier. Freedom 7 tilted over its right side about 60 degrees from upright position but showed no signs of leaking. It gently righted itself after a minute allowing Shepard to report safe landing and readiness for recovery. A recovery helicopter arrived after a few minutes following brief problems with the spacecraft antenna. The capsule lifted partly out of water to allow Shepard to leave by main hatch. He squeezed into a sling hoist pulled into the helicopter which flew both astronaut and spacecraft to waiting USS Lake Champlain.

  The whole recovery process took only eleven minutes from splashdown to arriving aboard. Engineers later examined the spacecraft and found it in excellent shape so much so they decided it could have been safely used again in another launch. One technical issue emerged regarding the retrorocket pack jettison light failure. This pack attached over heatshield by straps was normally released before reentry. Shepard heard noise of jettison and saw one strap fly past window but confirmation light did not turn on. Fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton confirmed pack had jettisoned so Shepard activated manual override for system to trigger light. Later determination revealed retro-jettison light failed due to electrically triggered pyrotechnic squibs drawing excessive current dropping voltage resetting timer.

• 5. Global Reaction And Pride

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  The flight lasted 15 minutes 22 seconds traveling distance from its launch point ascending to altitude. Freedom 7 landed at coordinates off the coast of the Bahamas near Andros Island. Cloud cover made it difficult for him to make out other Bahamian islands during observation through periscope. The mission achieved technical success though American pride remained dampened by Soviet achievement just three weeks prior. Yuri Gagarin completed one orbit on Vostok 1 on the 12th of April 1961.

  Shepard observed Earth and tested capsule attitude control turning spacecraft around to face blunt heat shield forward for atmospheric re-entry. He also tested retrorockets which would return later missions from orbit though capsule lacked enough energy to remain in orbit. Despite these achievements national attention focused heavily on the fact that Soviets had already orbited a human being. This contrast shaped how Americans viewed their own space program progress during early 1961.

• 6. Legacy And Cultural Memory

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  Following the flight the spacecraft was examined by engineers and found to be in excellent shape so much so they decided it could have been safely used again in another launch. Given to Smithsonian Institution by NASA Freedom 7 previously displayed at U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland until 2012. In 2012 it appeared at John F. Kennedy Library in Boston Massachusetts. Beginning the 5th of May 2021 the 60th Anniversary of First American in Space the Mercury-Redstone spacecraft Freedom 7 exhibited at Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located in Chantilly Virginia. It currently displays at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum located in Washington D.C.

  In June 1961 Laurie Records issued 45 rpm single featuring William Allen and Orchestra entitled Space Flight Freedom 7 consisting recreations tower to astronaut communications spoken over instrumental backing. The mission dramatized in Tom Wolfe's 1979 book The Right Stuff Philip Kaufman's 1983 film The Right Stuff Scott Glenn plays Shepard. Later depictions included 1998 HBO miniseries From Earth To Moon episode Can We Do This? starring Ted Levine as Shepard and 2016 film Hidden Figures with Dane Davenport playing Shepard. In 2008 video game Fallout 3 player visits Museum Technology ruins Washington D.C. two centuries after nuclear war where exhibit shows slightly different version called Defiance 7 piloted by fictional Carl Bell who died crash landing.