NASA encountered several failures of the early Redstone and Atlas launches, with the launch vehicles exploding at various stages. When the problems were fixed, unmanned and animal launch tests were conducted. The Redstone was used on the first two manned suborbital flights, but it was not as powerful as the Atlas. The Atlas was used to place men into orbit on the remaining Mercury flights. Inc. All rights reserved.
Meteors burn up when they hit the earth's atmosphere.