Evening star., 1961-05-01
MERCURY
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reasonably free of choppiness.
The understanding here is
that tomorrow has been chosen
for the initial trial. The weather
outlook for that day is good,
according to experts here.
On the day Of the shot, the
chosen aStronaut will be up
and about at 2 am, receiving
his final checkup for physica,
and psychological fitness and
eating a light breakfast. Like
the foods consumed by the po-
tential pilots for three days
previously. this will be Of the
low-residue" type, convertible
for the most part into nourish-
ment.
I'd AstrOnaut Stands BY
The men, the prime astron-
aut" and the "backup" will
follow identical regimens in the
hours between reveille and
blaStoff. The second man must
be in instant readiness to take
the place of the first if cir
cumstanceS warrant.
To this end, the backup
astronaut will be in a "simula-
tor" identical in all respects
to the Mercury space capsule
while the prime astronaut is
being readied for takeoff.
A bizarre pre-launch note is
the fixing Of electrodes to tat
tooed spots on the astronaut's
bodies. These spots were pre-
cisely located by medical Of
ficers so that telemetering in
Struments could carry to Mer-
curry central control a continu-
Gus record Of the pilots bodily
processes during flight. Thi!
will be done about five hour.
before launching.
| When the countdown end!
with ignition in the rockets
powerful engine. a series o.
events will begin that will enc
if all goes well-with a res.
cue-at-sea by helicopter is Of
20 minutes later.
The rocket bearing the space
capsule is supposed to boost
the aStronaut to a peak alti-
tude of lis miles. about las
miles out over the Atlantic
Ocean. Then the capsule con-
tanning the spaceman is sup
posed to continue on a "ballistic
trajectory" Qike the path of ar
artillery shelD until it reaches
an altitude of about 10000
feet.
Chutes Into Ocean
At this point. parachutes
take over and lower the cap
sule gently into the ocean.
An aircraft carrier. two de-
stroyerS and a Navy air patrol
squadron will be in the i'm
mediate target area, and other
surface and air craft will be
deployed along the 300-mile
path the space capsule is sup
posed to follow.
An interlocking series of pre-
cautions has been designed tc
protect the astronaut if any
thing should go wrong from
the start of the countdown tc
the end of the mission at sea
After the astronaut's rescue
by Marine Corps helicopters
he will be taken to Grand
Bahama Island, in the British
owned Bahamas off the Florida
coast, for "de-briefing" and
close physical examination
NASA officials say he will be
there for 48 hours. The space
capsule will be returned tc
Cape Canaveral within a few
hours after recovery.
1t is expected that the astro-
naut will be flown to Wash
ington after his recuperative
period on Grand Bahama. The
possibility that President Ken
nedy would welcome the mar
at the White House was widely
but not officially discussed here
The four aStronautS not can
didateS for the Redstone ride
will participate in the grounc
activities of the mission. They
are Navy 1t. Comdr. Scott
Carpenter, Air Force Mai
Donald Slayton, Air Force Capt
Leroy Cooper, and Navy 1t
Comdr. Walter Schirra.
All seven aStronautS spent
yesterday in relaxation anC
rest. The three Redstone eli.
gibles were on low-residue diet
but were not confined to the
military reservations. Capt
Grissom's wife and children
were here, as were the families
Of several of the other astro-
nauts.
Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Glenn anc