Mercury-Atlas 4

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Mercury-Atlas 4
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name	Mercury-Atlas 4
Spacecraft mass	1,224.7 kilograms (2,700 lb)
Crew size	0
Call sign	MA-4
Booster	Atlas #88-D
Launch pad	LC-14 (CCAF)
Launch date	September 13, 1961, 14:09:00 UTC
Landing	September 13, 1961, 15:58:20 UTC
Mission duration	01:49:40
Number of orbits	1
Apogee	248 kilometres (134 nmi)
Perigee	156 kilometres (84 nmi)
Orbital period	88.6 min.
Orbital inclination	32.57°
Distance traveled	41,919 kilometres (26,047 mi)
Maximum velocity	28,205 kilometres per hour (17,526 mph)
Peak acceleration	75.5 m/s² (7.7 g)
Crew photo Crewman Simulator
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission MR-4 MS-1

Mercury-Atlas 4 was an unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on September 13, 1961 at 14:09 UTC from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A Crewman Simulator instrument package was aboard. The craft orbited the Earth once.

This flight was an orbital test of the Mercury Tracking Network and the first successful orbital flight test of the Mercury program. (All previous successful launches were suborbital.) The payload consisted of a pilot simulator (to test the environmental controls), two voice tapes (to check the tracking network), a life support system, three cameras, and instrumentation to monitor levels of noise, vibration and radiation. It demonstrated the ability of the Atlas rocket to lift the Mercury capsule into orbit, of the capsule and its systems to operate completely autonomously, and succeeded in obtaining pictures of the Earth. It completed one orbit prior to returning to Earth. The capsule was recovered 176 miles east of Bermuda. One hour and 22 minutes after splashdown the destroyer USS Decatur (DD-936) (which was 34 miles from the landing point) picked up the capsule. On the MA-4 mission, all flight objectives were successfully achieved.

The mission used Mercury spacecraft # 8A (which had also been launched on the aborted MA-3 mission as spacecraft # 8) and Atlas # 88-D.

[edit] See also

• Splashdown

v • d • e Missions of Project Mercury Mercury-Jupiter · Little Joe 1 · Big Joe 1 · Little Joe 6 · Little Joe 1A · Little Joe 2 · Little Joe 1B · Beach Abort · Mercury-Atlas 1 · Little Joe 5 · Mercury-Redstone 1 · Mercury-Redstone 1A · Mercury-Redstone 2 · Mercury-Atlas 2 · Little Joe 5A · Mercury-Redstone BD · Mercury-Atlas 3 · Little Joe 5B · Mercury-Redstone 3 · Mercury-Redstone 4 · Mercury-Atlas 4 · Mercury-Scout 1 · Mercury-Atlas 5 · Mercury-Atlas 6 · Mercury-Atlas 7 · Mercury-Atlas 8 · Mercury-Atlas 9 · Mercury-Atlas 10