Friday, May 26, 1995

Mercury Atlas 4

  1961-025A


Spacecraft 8 was refurbished as Spacecraft 8A, and was relaunched at 1404 on 1961 Sep 13. It became the first Mercury in orbit, and was recovered from the Atlantic after a 109 minute trip around the Earth. The astronaut simulator was again carried. Splashdown was 283 km E of Bermuda (about 32N 60W). Retrofire is at an angle of 34 deg corresponding to a dV of -128, 0, -86 m/s.


MA-3 and MA-4 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1961 Apr 25  1615:00?  Launch by Atlas 100D, LC14 
 1615:40?  T+40s LES abort at 4.3 km  
 1616  LES sep 
  Apogee at 7.3 km  
 1622  Splashdown in Atlantic, range 1.8 km 
 1633  Helicopter recovery 
  Returned to Hangar S 
1961 Sep 13  1404  Launch on az 70 deg  LC14 
  T+2:11? BECO 
 1406? Booster sep, 66 km alt 
 1406? LES sep 
 1409  MECO 
 1409  Atlas sep 156 x 248 x 32.8 
   161 x 254 (PressConf) 
 1533  T+1:28:59 Retrofire 
 1534  Retropack sep 
 1538Entry 
 1553  Splashdown in Atlantic T+1:49:20 
 1714  Recovered by USS Decatur 

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May 13,2026

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