Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-16
Continued From First Page

uOuDOCuly Will COlhC llOHi Vic l.
White House. A prestige-laden,
5000 million event is not trig-
gered by a lower echelon
decision.
Enters Capsule
The chosen Astronaut will
don a pressure suit, complete
with "spaceman's" helmet, and
about an hour before the zero
moment he will scale a tall
gantry tower and enter the
Mercury capsule in the nose Of 1
the huge Atlas rocket. Technl- 1
clans will seal the port behind
him. The Astronaut will strap
himself, in a reclining position
into a rigid couch, made OF r.
berglasS and tailored to the
contours of his body. The couch !
will not only support him. but It
will help him withstand the ter
rife forces of acceleration on !
takeoff-forces that will make
him seem to weigh eight times |
or more his normal weight.
The hour or so left before
launching will be no more than
enough for the AStronaut to
check his gear and instruments
and to ponder briefly the
strange environment in which
he finds himself. A one-shapeo
ROOM" 6 feet in diameter
and hardly more than 6 feet
high, will be his home for three
trips around the world. He will
be breathing the same amount
of oxygen he usually breathes,
but at a lower pressure.
Few men ever set out on a
voyage in more expensive &C
commodationS, or more spartan
ones. The Mercury capsule has
no luxurieS built into it.
The Blast-Off
The countdown approaches
zero. The Astronaut, listening
to central control, perhaps
breathes prayer. Then he feels
a crushing pressure. The Atlas
Is taking of.
For six minutes the accelera-
cion continues. The 164-pound
Spaceman seems to weigh near
ly three-quarters of a ton. But
even this sensation does not
prevent him from watching for
the first signs of trouble. If he
is lucky. sensors in the Atlas
beneath him will give him five
seconds warning of disaster
barely time to push the escape
button and get out of there via
a powerful little rocket in a
tower at the top of the massive
assembly.
A pull-out could happen
anywhere, from the launching
pad itself to the point, hun
dreds of miles away. where the
Atlas stops accelerating. Return
to the surface after pull-out
conceivably could happen as
far away as the west coast of
Africa. 4
1900 M.P.H. in 100 Miles
But if the launching is sue
cesSful, burning time of the
Atlas will end at about T plus
6 minutes, with the vehicle at
100 miles altitude and a speed
between 1900 and $4,000 miles
an hour. The manned capsule,
now weightless, separates from
the rocket.
Immediately, the Astronaut
manipulates controls which
turn the capsule around by
means of hydrogen peroxide
jets. This places the man in a
riding backwards" position,
ready to take the shock of re-
entry through his back rather
than through his abdomen.
The Astronaut is in contin-
uouS voice communication with
ground stations as he orbits
the earth once every hour and
a-half. In addition, data on his
physical condition is teleme-
tered to earth by auxiliary
radios.
Stars Return to Earth
On the third pass, as the
capsule streakS above the Pa
cif1c east of Hawaii, the AStro-
naut is told to bring her in. He
pushes a control to fire tiny
retro" rockets that slow the
capsule and bring it earthward
AS he fires the retros, he braces
himself for a 3,000-mile glide
in to a landing.
The reverse of the terrific &C.
celerative pressure Immediately
makes itself felt. For a minute,
the Astronaut seems to weigh
nine times his own weight;
then the strange force abates.