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MR-2 (12)
- Mercury Redstone 2
- Pad LC-5 ()
- Redstone (3)
Crew: Ham the Chimp
Milestones: n/a
Payload:
Spacecraft No. 5, Launch Vehicle
MR-2
Mission Objective: Primate suborbital and auto abort.
Orbit:
- Altitude: 157 statute miles
- Orbits: 0
- Duration: 0 Days, 0 hours, 16 min,
39 seconds
- Distance: 422 statute miles
- Velocity: 5,857 mph
- Max Q: 575 psf
- Max G: 14.7
Launch:
January 31, 1961 - Launch Complex
5/6 Kennedy Space Center
Landing:
Touchdown was at 12:12pm with the
capsule about 60 miles from the nearest recovery ship, the
destroyer Ellison. Some 27 minutes after landing, a P2V search
plane sighted the capsule floating upright alone in the Atlantic.
The Navy dispatched helicopters from the next closest ship, the
LSD Donner. Wave action after impact punched two holes in the
titanium pressure bulkhead and caused the capsule to capsize.
Water entered an open relief valve and allowed 800lbs of sea water
aboard before the spacecraft was recovered at 2:52pm. The
chimpanzee Ham was recovered in good condition.
Mission Highlights:
Spacecraft successful. Launch
Vehicle only partially successful.
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