Friday, April 10, 1992
Aurora 7
1962-019A
Mercury spacecraft 18 was assigned to the Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7) mission. The pilot was Lt. Cdr. Scott Carpenter, USN.
A 76 cm balloon was released on a 30-m long line from the nose, to measure air drag and reflectivity, but it failed to inflate and jettison. The balloon mass was 0.2 kg and tether was 3 kg; associated equipment had a mass of 2 kg. Two balsa block liners 0.08 x 0.16m in size (one orange/black, one yellow/black) and `numerous' small 6mm colored aluminized mylar disks were also ejected.
Carpenter carried out a ground flare visibility experiment, a horizon definition test, and photography of the airglow layer.
The Mercury landed in the Atlantic Ocean at 19 29 N, 64 05 W.
| MA-7 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 May 24 | 1245:16 | Range zero time | |
| 1245:16 | Launch by Atlas 107D | ||
| 1247:24 | Booster sep | ||
| 1247:49 | LES sep | ||
| 1250:26 | SECO | ||
| 1250.30 | Atlas 107D sep | 161 x 264 x 32.5 (TEC) | |
| 1250:34 | Posigrade burn 6.4m/s | 160 x 288 x 32.5 (TEC) | |
| 154 x 260 x 32.5 (RAE) | |||
| 1423:16 | Balloon release | ||
| 1559 | Balloon jettison failed | ||
| 1718:26 | Retrofire 130W 32N 160 km | ||
| 1719:27 | Retropack jettison | ||
| 1730:00 | Entry | ||
| 1736 | Drogue parachute deployed | ||
| 1737:04 | Main parachute deployed | ||
| 1741:21 | Landed in Atlantic | ||
| 2352 | Recovered by USS Intrepid | ||
Kosmos 1957
1988-057A
The second 14F43 flight, No. 29 (Kosmos-1957), flew a 13 day mission in Jul 1988.
| Kosmos-1957 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Jul 7 | 0805 | Launch by Soyuz-U | PL LC16 |
| 0813 | Blok-I sep | 88.61 183 x 229 x 82.6 | |
| 2130 | 88.93 183 x 260 x 82.6 | ||
| 1988 Jul 8 | 0230 | 89.86 260 x 275 x 82.6 | |
| 1988 Jul 20 | 89.80 257 x 272 x 82.6 | ||
| 1988 Jul 21 | |||
| 0409? | Deorbit | ||
| 0419? | PO sep | ||
| 0429? | Entry | ||
| 0445? | Landed | ||