 |
| MA-2 launch cover with Goldcraft cachet, postmarked Port Canaveral, February 21, 1961. |
Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) mission was to qualify the Mercury-Atlas combination in flight and evaluate spacecraft performance under near maximum re-entry loads and maximum afterbody heating. The unoccupied spacecraft was launched at 9:11 A.M. EST. After a normal flight, it landed in the high probability landing area 1300 miles downrange. WV aircraft received SARAH indications shortly after main parachute deployment at ranges up to 140 nautical miles. Observers on USS Donner and USS Greene, and two search aircraft sighted the spacecraft visually. The spacecraft was sighted in the water at 9:36 A.M. EST by a WV search aircraft and at 9:51 by the recovery helo. The spacecraft was recovered in two minutes and delivered aboard USS Donner at 10:06. (Extracted from the book "PROJECT MERCURY ...one step into space" by Donald O. Schultz).
 |
| MA-2 launch cover postmarked PAFB, February 21, 1961. |
 |
| Photo: Technicians inspecting the Mercury capsule that survived a torturous 12,500 miles per hour ride. |
