Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted twenty uncrewed developmental flights, and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.25 billion adjusted for inflation. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.
Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963 from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named Faith 7, completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper, then a United States Air Force major. The Atlas rocket was No. 130-D, and the Mercury spacecraft was No. 20. This mission marks the last time an American was launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission.
Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9.1 km) and 11,000 feet (3.4 km) down range. All telemetry signals suddenly ceased as the vehicle was passing through Max Q. Because the day was rainy and overcast, the booster was out of sight from 26 seconds after launch, and it was impossible to see what happened.
Mercury-Redstone 1 (MR-1) was the first Mercury-Redstone uncrewed flight test in Project Mercury and the first attempt to launch a Mercury spacecraft with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle. Intended to be an uncrewed sub-orbital spaceflight, it was launched on November 21, 1960 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch failed in a peculiar fashion which has been referred to as the "four-inch flight".
Little Joe 1 (LJ-1) was a failed launch of a Little Joe of the NASA, a solid fuel rocket that was designed for a Max Q abort and Launch Escape System test for Mercury capsule. The objective was to determine how well the escape rocket would function under the most severe dynamic loading conditions anticipated during a Mercury-Atlas launching.
Little Joe 1A (LJ-1A) was an unmanned rocket launched as part of NASA's Mercury program on November 4, 1959. This flight, a repeat of the Little Joe 1 (LJ-1) launch, was to test a launch abort under high aerodynamic load conditions. After lift-off, the pressure sensing system was to indicate when the correct abort dynamic pressure was reached. This should have happened about thirty seconds after launch. A signal was sent to the explosive bolts to separate the spacecraft from the launch vehicle. Up to this point, everything was going as planned. The impulse was also intended to ignite the escape motor. The motor was ignited, but it took a number of seconds to build up thrust, and thus the abort maneuver was not accomplished at the desired dynamic pressure. Because of this, a repeat of the test was planned. Other events from launch through recovery occurred without incident. An altitude of 9 statute miles (14.5 km) and a range of 11.5 statute miles (18.5 km) were obtained, and a speed of 2,021.6 miles per hour (3,254 km/h) was reached. Flight time 8 minutes 11 seconds. Payload 1,007 kg.
The Beach Abort was an unmanned test in NASA's Project Mercury, of the Mercury spacecraft Launch Escape System. Objectives of the test were a performance evaluation of the escape system, the parachute and landing system, and recovery operations in an off-the-pad abort situation. The test took place at NASA's Wallops Island, Virginia, test facility on May 9, 1960. In the test, the Mercury spacecraft and its Launch Escape System were fired from ground level. The flight lasted a total of 1 minute, 16 seconds. The spacecraft reached an apogee of 0.751 kilometres (2,465 ft) and splashed down in the ocean with a range of 0.97 kilometres (0.6 mi).Top speed was a velocity of 436 metres per second (976 mph). A Marine Corps helicopter recovered the spacecraft 17 minutes after launch. The test was considered a success, although there was insufficient separation distance when the tower jettisoned. Mercury Spacecraft #1, the first spacecraft off McDonnell's production line, was used in this test. Total payload weight was 1,154 kilograms (2,544 lb).
Little Joe 5B was an uncrewed launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the US Mercury program. The mission used production Mercury spacecraft # 14A. The mission was launched April 28, 1961, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Little Joe 5B flew to an apogee of 2.8 miles (4.5 km) and a range of 9 miles (14 km). The mission lasted 5 minutes 25 seconds. Maximum speed was 1,780 mph (2865 km/h) and acceleration was 10 g (98 m/s²). The mission was a success and Mercury spacecraft # 14A was recovered.
Little Joe 5A was an unmanned launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. It was an attempted re-test of the failed Little Joe 5 flight. The mission used production Mercury spacecraft #14 atop a Little Joe booster rocket. The mission was launched March 18, 1961, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The LJ-5 failure sequence was repeated when capsule escape rocket again ignited prematurely with the capsule remaining attached to the booster. In this flight however, a ground command was sent to separate the capsule from the booster and escape tower. This allowed the main and reserve parachutes to deploy and the capsule was recovered with only minor damage. It would be used again on the subsequent Little Joe 5B mission, in a third attempt to achieve mission objectives. The Little Joe 5A flew to an apogee of 7.7 miles (12 km) and a range of 18 miles (29 km). The mission lasted 5 minutes 25 seconds. Maximum speed was 1,783 miles per hour (2,869 km/h) and acceleration was 8 G (78 m/s²).
A-001 was the second abort test of the Apollo spacecraft.
Little Joe II was an American rocket used from 1963 to 1966 for five uncrewed tests of the Apollo spacecraft launch escape system (LES), and to verify the performance of the command module parachute recovery system in abort mode. It was named after a similar rocket designed for the same function in Project Mercury. Launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, it was the smallest of four launch rockets used in the Apollo program.
Little Joe was an unmanned United States solid-fueled booster rocket used for eight launches from 1959-1960 from Wallops Island, Virginia to test the launch escape system and heat shield for Project Mercury capsules, as well as the name given to the test program using the booster. The first rocket designed solely for manned spacecraft qualifications, Little Joe was also one of the pioneer operational launch vehicles using the rocket cluster principle.
During the launch of an Apollo spacecraft by the Saturn IB or Saturn V rocket, the flight could be aborted to rescue the crew if the rocket failed catastrophically. Depending on how far the flight had progressed, they would use different procedures or modes. None of these launch abort modes was ever used on any of the fifteen crewed Apollo spacecraft flights.
A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew safety system connected to a space capsule, used to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle rocket in case of a launch abort emergency, such as an impending explosion. The LES is typically controlled by a combination of automatic rocket failure detection, and a manual activation for the crew commander's use. The LES may be used while the launch vehicle is still on the launch pad, or during its ascent. Such systems are usually of two types:
A boilerplate spacecraft, also known as a mass simulator, is a nonfunctional craft or payload that is used to test various configurations and basic size, load, and handling characteristics of rocket launch vehicles. It is far less expensive to build multiple, full-scale, non-functional boilerplate spacecraft than it is to develop the full system. In this way, boilerplate spacecraft allow components and aspects of cutting-edge aerospace projects to be tested while detailed contracts for the final project are being negotiated. These tests may be used to develop procedures for mating a spacecraft to its launch vehicle, emergency access and egress, maintenance support activities, and various transportation processes.
A pad abort test is a test of a launch escape system to determine how well the system could get the crew of a spacecraft to safety in an emergency on the launch pad.
The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by American aircraft manufacturing company Convair, it was derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile, and was a member of the Atlas family of rockets.
In the event of catastrophic failure, the Soyuz spacecraft has a series of automated and semi-automated abort modes to rescue the crew. The abort systems have been refined since the first manned flights and all abort scenarios for the Soyuz MS are expected to be survivable for the crew.
Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight which aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two members of the Expedition 57 crew to the International Space Station. A few minutes after liftoff, the craft went into contingency abort due to a booster failure and had to return to Earth. By the time the contingency abort was declared, the launch escape system (LES) tower had already been ejected and the capsule was pulled away from the rocket using the solid rocket jettison motors on the capsule fairing. Both crew members, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, were recovered in good health. The MS-10 flight abort was the first instance of a Russian crewed booster accident in 35 years, since Soyuz T-10-1 exploded on the launch pad in September 1983. On 1 November 2018, Russian scientists released a video recording of the mission.
Crew Dragon C205 is a Crew Dragon capsule manufactured and built by SpaceX. It completed its first flight on January 19, 2020, with the Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test mission where the capsule detached from the Falcon 9 B1046 booster at max Q using the SuperDraco abort thrusters. This was done to test the functionality of the abort thrusters in an operational rocket launch.
