![]() ![]() ![]() It flew MR-1 successfully-though not uneventfully-on 19 December. As such, it could be emptied of its propellants and readied for another mission. ![]() It was tragic and America’s space program took another beating in the newspapers and in Congress.” Astonishingly, the Redstone did not explode and remained upright. “It wasn’t just a funny scene on the pad. “The press had a field day,” remembered Flight Director Chris Kraft. Ham, pictured in his specially contoured couch aboard the MR-2 capsule. A descendent and direct outgrowth of Nazi Germany’s fearsome V-2 weapon, it had been utilized in the United States’ first live nuclear tests during Operation Hardtack in August 1958 and its impeccable record earned it the moniker “Old Reliable”. The 83-foot-tall (25-meter) Redstone was a converted ballistic missile, capable of accelerating to around 2,100 mph (3,500 km/h), which lacked the impulse to achieve orbital velocity, but could at least reach the threshold of space. In many ways, the unhappy voyage of Ham was a contributor to the United States losing out to Russia in the race to put a man into space. It was hoped that America would put a man into space before the Soviet Union, but difficulties during Ham’s mission-including problems with his Redstone rocket and the unhappy chimp having to endure forces almost 15 times greater than terrestrial gravity during re-entry-led an increasingly nervous NASA and the Space Task Group (STG) to push for another unmanned test flight before entrusting the launch vehicle with a human crew member. Video Credit: Smithsonian Channel/YouTube ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |