Mercury-Atlas 1

Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first suborbital test flight of the Mercury capsule. The rescue rocket was not used in this unmanned mission. The capsule had functional engines to separate it from the Atlas rocket, the re-entry rockets were just dummies.

The launch took place on July 29, 1960 from Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. 58 seconds after launch, the launch vehicle broke up at an altitude of approximately 9 km. All telemetry signals suddenly stopped as the vehicle passed Max Q. Because the day was rainy and cloudy, the Atlas rocket was out of sight 26 seconds after launch and it was impossible to see what was happening.

The rocket and the capsule then hit hard in the Atlantic Ocean, causing the capsule to break and sink. It was recovered with parts of the rocket and reconstructed for study purposes.

The capsule reached a maximum altitude of approximately 13 km and flew 9.6 km. The flight lasted 3 minutes and 18 seconds. The weight of the Mercury capsule was 1154 kg. The rocket’s serial number was Atlas 50-D. The Mercury capsule used was called Mercury spacecraft #4.