Mercury Space Capsule Replica

In 1958, the United States announced Project Mercury, with the goal of sending men into low Earth orbit, and selected a group of seven astronauts to pilot them. The single-man capsule was designed and patened by a team led by Maxime Faget. The McDonnell Aircraft company won the contract to build Mercury. The cone-shaped capsule was 6 feet in diameter with a blunt-body heat shield at the base. Total capsule length was 10.8 feet, including a retrorocket pack strapped over the heat shield. The heaviest capsule had a gross weight of 3,000 pounds, and was capable of just over one day of orbital flight. A 24.1-foot-long launch escape tower was connected to the nose of the capsule at launch, containing a solid-fueled rocket capable of carrying the capsule away from the launch vehicle in case of an emergency. Capsules for suborbital flights used a radiative heat shield made of beryllium and were launched with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle. Orbital capsules used an ablative heat shield made of fiberglass embedded in an aluminum honeycomb matrix, and were launched with the Atlas LV-3B.

New York City Oct 2010, USS Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum
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