Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) was an unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on September 13, 1961 at 14:09 UTC from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A Crewman Simulator instrument package was aboard. This flight was an orbital test of the Mercury Tracking Network and the first successful orbital flight test of the Mercury program--all previous successful launches were suborbital. The payload consisted of a pilot simulator (to test the environmental controls), two voice tapes (to check the tracking network), a life support system, three cameras, and instrumentation to monitor levels of noise, vibration and radiation.
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| Mercury Atlas MA-4 cover with a SpaceCraft illustrated cachet, postmarked PAFB postmark September 13, 1961. |
The MA‑4 mission had successfully achieved all its flight objectives. It had demonstrated the ability of the Atlas LV-3B rocket to lift the Mercury capsule into orbit and of the capsule and its systems to operate completely autonomously, and it had succeeded in obtaining pictures of the Earth. Nonetheless, to be on the safe side and test out a few more design changes, NASA still planned for one more unmanned test before committing the Mercury-Atlas combo to a manned flight.
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| Photo:A Mercury capsule is hoisted to the top of gantry 14 at Cape Canaveral to be placed atop an Atlas D missile. |
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| Photo: The mechanical Crewman Simulator installed in the Mercury capsule. |
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| Mercury Atlas MA-4 launch cover with Swanson rubber stamp cachet and PAFB postmark September 13, 1961. |
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| Photo: The launch and recovery of the MA-4 capsule. |
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| Mercury Atlas MA-4 launch cover with "Velvatone" cachet, postmarked Port Canaveral, September 13, 1961. |
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| Photo: "A section of the west coast of Africa was photographed by an automatic camera aboard the unmanned Mercury spacecraft that orbited Wednesday. The photograph, released Friday by the national aeronautics and space administration, was taken while the capsule zipped along at 17,519 miles an hour 110 miles high. AP Wirephoto. September 15, 1961." |
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| Photo: Crewmen from USS Stephen Decatur recovering the MA-4 capsule. |
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| USS Decatur scarce Captain's Cover of the "Robot Astronaut" recovery, signed by Lt. J. A. Felt. |
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| Photo: The recovered MA-4 capsule was loaded into an airplane to be transported back to the US. |
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Photo: MA-4 capsule getting inspected after returned to Cape Canaveral on September 14, 1961.
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(Reference from
Mercury-Atlas 4)
