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Capsule, Mercury

NASA - Langley Research Center

On September 9, 1959, NASA launched this unoccupied Mercury spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight that lasted 13 minutes. Its launch was the second in the Mercury program and the first using an Atlas booster. The flight helped NASA evaluate the booster, the new ablative heat shield, the capsule's flight dynamics and aerodynamic shape, and spacecraft recovery systems and procedures.

Type

SPACECRAFT-Crewed-Test Vehicles

Medium

Structure: Inconel alloy

Department

NASM

Institution

National Air and Space Museum

Object number

nasm_A19680244000

Credit

Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration