1960-12-19 USA Mercury Redstone MR-1A

MR-1A launch cover with Goldcraft cachet, postmarked Port Canaveral, December 19, 1960.

MR-1A mission was to qualify the spacecraft and flight system for a primate flight. A MAG-26 helo from the USS Valley Forge recovered the spacecraft using the Shepard's Crook method and returned it to the carrier 47 minutes after landing. This test was the first in which CTF 140 used the new Recovery Room in the NASA Project Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral to direct Recovery Force operations. The first attempt on 7 November was canceled because of a helium leak in the spacecraft reaction control system relief valve and also on 21 November because of a premature cut-off of the launch vehicle engines. (Extracted from the book "PROJECT MERCURY ...one step into space" by Donald O. Schultz)

MR-1A launch cover with "SpaceCraft" printed cachet, postmarked PAFB, December 19, 1960.

Photo: A mercury capsule is hoisted to place on top of a Redstone vehicle.

MR-1A launch cover with a printed cachet of a Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle, postmarked PAFB, December 19, 1960.