FINAL CONFIGURATION

Stated simply, in its final configuration the bell-shaped Mercury capsule was comprised of a conical pressure section topped by the cylindrical recovery system section. The beryllium heat shield was located at the base of the cone and a retro-rocket housing was held to the shield by three metallic straps.

The three retro-rockets, enclosed in a housing in the center of the heat shield, pro­vided the reverse propulsion required to slow the orbiting spacecraft by about 500 feet per second and thereby initiate the deorbit process. The expended retro-rocket pack­age would then be jettisoned.

Attached to the top of the spacecraft by explosive bolts was the escape system, made up of an escape rocket on a 14-foot tubular tower. The escape system was designed such that the Mercury capsule, in an abort contingency, was explosively disengaged from the booster as the escape rocket fired simultaneously. The rocket would pull the capsule upward and to the side as it separated at a rate exceeding 200 feet per second. Once the capsule/escape tower combination had slowed down, the tower would be jettisoned and a normal parachute sequence initiated.

The spacecraft’s instrument panel was set approximately 24 inches in front of the astro­naut. The environmental control system provided conditions for the astronaut similar to that of a military aircraft and had redundant controls, plus another one for emergencies.

The recovery system included the 6-foot FIST drogue parachute which opened at around 21,000 feet and the 63-foot ring-sail main parachute that would be deployed at about 10,000 feet, plus the reserve drogue and main chute. As tests indicated, the planned landing velocity in the water was somewhere in the optimum vicinity of 30 feet per second.