Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 44 2008

Mercury-Atlas 7 was a Mercury program American manned space mission launched May 24, 1962. The Mercury capsule was named Aurora 7 and made three earth orbits, piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter. A targeting mishap during reentry took the spacecraft about 400 km off course, delaying recovery of Carpenter and the craft. The mission used Mercury spacecraft 18 and Atlas 107D. The original prime crew for Mercury Atlas-7 was to have been Deke Slayton, who was removed after he was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia.

The focus of Carpenter's five-hour Aurora 7 mission was on science. The full flight plan included the first study of liquids in weightlessness, Earth photography and an unsuccessful attempt to observe a flare fired from the ground. All primary mission objectives were achieved. Because of his busy schedule, and a malfunction of the automatic alignment system, Carpenter overshot his planned reentry mark and splashed down 402km off target. (more...)