posted 10-05-2014 05:39 AM               

This early Project Mercury photo is pictured immediately after the launch command is given for Mercury Redstone-1 at LC-5, November 21, 1960, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The purpose of this first Mercury Redstone-1 test with a Mercury spacecraft is to qualify the spacecraft and the Mercury Redstone launch vehicle for a upcoming suborbital Project Mercury mission with an astronaut. After launch and rising only 4 inches off the launch pad, this Mercury Redstone-1 test suddenly ends in spectacular failure as the spacecraft’s escape tower rocket then fires and speeds away from the launch pad as the Redstone rocket engine shuts down, and the spacecraft still attached to the failed rocket quietly settles back on the launch pad, photo credit NASA.

Space Cover #285 – The Incredible 4 Inch Flight of Mercury Redstone-1

U.S. Air Force Captain William "Bill" Flint, USAF Mercury Status Monitor, mails this postcard to his friend, Ted Holden, on the date of the failed attempt to launch Mercury Redstone-1 with its Mercury spacecraft, November 21, 1960, Cape Canaveral, Florida, down the Atlantic Missile Range. In his message to fellow space cover collector Ted Holden written in light pencil on the postcard concerning the failed MR-1 test, Captain Flint succinctly writes, “I hope this cover will have significance for you.”

Mercury Redstone-1 was on launch pad LC-5 and ready for launch for a suborbital ballistic flight down the Atlantic Missile Range. However, there was a one-hour hold to fix a hydrogen peroxide leak in the rocket’s fuel system. The Mercury spacecraft had completed flight checks for an operational shot. Mercury Control was fully manned for the first time as the countdown resumes to launch the Mercury Redstone-1 test flight. Mercury Redstone-1 rocket engine ignites on command with its Rocketdyne A-7 rocket engine thundering.

Mercury Redstone-1 with its Mercury spacecraft slowly lifts from launch pad LC-5 on November 21, 1960, at Cape Canaveral. The Mercury Redstone rocket starts to lift a few inches off the launch pad, but then the rocket engine shuts down, the rocket’s roar stops, and the missile slowly settles back down on the launch pad. However, Mercury Redstone-1’s normal recovery sequence system is activated. The escape tower rocket suddenly ignites and launches itself followed three seconds later by the spacecraft’s deployment of the drogue parachute, the main parachute, and then the reserve parachute. In the prevailing quiet, the parachutes slowly float back down next to the still attached spacecraft on the shutdown rocket on the launch pad. The escape rocket, the only part of the test that launches, reaches a height of 4,000 feet and then returns to the launch area, landing approximately 400 yards from the launch pad. It is a spectacular finish to Mercury Redstone-1’s four-inch flight and is an incredible failure.

A Carl Swanson rubber stamped cachet cover is shown for the failed Mercury Redstone-1 launch vehicle failure November 21, 1960, for its minimal four-inch flight at Cape Canaveral, Florida, as it settles back down on the rocket launch pad. The Mercury Redstone-1 test vehicle and Mercury spacecraft fail to launch as the missile’s rocket engine shuts down. Then its spacecraft’s escape tower fires blasting off from the launch site and away from the failed Mercury Redstone-1 booster.

Space covers for the Mercury Redstone-1 failed flight of November 21, 1960, are among the most difficult to find for Project Mercury, and the covers are missing from many space cover collections. Check your collection to see if you have this important early Project Mercury test cover. Don’t wait too long to find this important space cover if it is missing in your collection.

As Captain Bill Flint commented after witnessing the failed test in the postcard to his friend, “I hope this cover will have significance for you,” we can answer that question. Yes, indeed it does.

posted 10-05-2014 08:45 AM               

After the Redstone re-settled on the pad and the parachutes deployed, the wind began to pickup. The fear was the chute would catch the breeze and pull the Redstone over which would cause an explosion. Mission Control briefly considered shooting a hole through the fuel tanks to relieve the pressure but that idea was abandoned. The final decision was to sit and wait for the batteries to decay so they could safely approach the rocket and disarm the pyrotechnics.

posted 10-05-2014 10:20 AM               

I did not know that Mission Control was weighing whether or not they should shot the failed rocket to relieve pressure and offload its fuel and am relieved that they did not do this. That could have been very spectacular in a not so good way.

Good luck on finding your MR-1 cover. They can be found, and because they are not in the mainstream of space covers being sought, they can often be found for a bargain price.