3 ms·
It wasn't an abort, but the Mercury-Redstone 1 had a "T-plus" stop time [0]. It attempted to launch and the engine shut down immediately after lift off. It di
by hcrisp 10y ago
It wasn't an abort, but the Mercury-Redstone 1 had a "T-plus" stop time [0]. It attempted to launch and the engine shut down immediately after lift off. It didn't explode, the escape rocket jettisoned, the capsule deployed its drogue, and the the rocket settled back on the pad untethered [1]. It came to be referred to as the "four-inch flight".
After considering some risky ways to deal with the fully-fueled rocket, flight control ultimately decided to wait until the LOX boiled off. Chris Kraft declared, "That is the first rule of flight control. If you don't know what to do, don't do anything."
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_1
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4V7JfeTSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4V7JfeTSU
- teleclimber 10y agoAnd if you like stories like that, "Failure is not an option" by Gene Kranz is a must-read/listen. It seems every single flight of the early American Space Program was a nail-biter.
- cbanek 10y agoWhen you're responsible for it, or even a part of it, every moment is a nail-biter. You know exactly what can go wrong and how bad it could be.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]