Evening star., 1961-11-29
MERCURY
Capsule CircIed Earth Twice
Before Being Brought Down

Continued From Page Al
ing areas had been calculated
in emergencies.
At lis pm. the Cape Ca
naveFal tracking station re-
ported receiving signals from
the sre-entering capsule which
indicated that the chimp was
in good condition.
AT 80 pm. Col. Powers an
nouneed:
The NASA primate-carry-
ing spacecraft touched down at
about 1:28 pm. approximately
500 miles south Of Bermuda"
Two destroyers were on the
way to recover the floating cap
sules Col. Powers said.
Capsule AflOat
At 1877 pm. an airplane re-
ported that the capsule was in
the water and apparently float
ing well.
The animals first hour in
orbit apparently was passed
very satisfactorily. A summary
of data on his condition showed
that his heart was beating at
a rate between los and 120
per minute, compared with a
normal of about IS. The peak
heartbeat rate was $50 at the
time of maximum acceleration
Just after launching.
ErloS was breathing at a rate
between 20 and 25 per minute,
not significantly higher than
his average rate of 20. The
peak breathing rate, also at
tained maximum acceleration
of about 80 breaths per min
ute. His temperature remained
normal, very close to 98 de-
grees.
Part of the tasks laid out for
the chimp resulted in mild elec-
trio shocks if he performed in
correctly, while others gave him
rewards of water or banana
flovored food pellets if he did
them right.
On the first pass over the
tracking ship in the Indian
Ocean, about 1000 miles south
Of Bombay, Enos was at the
stage in his tasks where he was
receiving food pellets as COM
penSation for a job well done.
The Indian Ocean ship reported
that in the five minutes Enos
was within radio range he got
10 pellets out of a special dis
penSer. The ship was able to
tell about this because signals
were sent from the capsule each
time a pellet was dispensed.
First Orbit Finished
The first orbit was success
fully completed at about 1885
am. At that time, the capsule
was over the coast Of Lower
California, Mexico.
Paradoxically, the capsule
completed a full circum-
navigation of the globe before
1t passed over Florida where
it was launched. The explana-
ton is that while the capsule
was travelling around the world,
the earth was spinning on its
own axis beneath the capsule.
Thus IS 900 miles of travel had
been. completed before the cap
Sule passed over the east coast
of America.
The orbit achieved by the
Mercury space craft was very
close to what had been planned.
Reports indicated that its
perigee. or lowest point in orbit |
above the earth, was SO miles |
and apogee 146 miles. Speed |
of the craft was estimated at |
about 1880 miles an hour, or
nearly five miles a second. I
Speed Is Tremendous
So swiftly did the space craft |
travel that it was within range |
Of Bermuda four minutes after
launch, over the middle of the |
Atlantic by 1915 and over the |
northwestern coast of Africa at .
1928.
The Mercury tracking station |
at Zanzibar on the eastern coast |
Of Africa reported receiving |
signals from the capsule at |
1873 am. At 10:40 the cap
sule passed across the coastline
out over the Indian Ocean, hav-
ing spanned the African con-
tinent in is minutes.
Signals Caught at Sea
A specially equipped tracking
ship in the middle of the Indian
Ocean picked up signals from |
the capsule at s10:48 am. The |
ship reported that all capsule !
systems and the chimp himself |
were doing we'll, according to
radioed indications. !
At 1888 am. the tracking
station at Muhea, near Perth
in Western Australia, acquired
signals from the speeding space
craft. Five minutes later, the /
other Australian tracking sta
ton at Woomera, near Ade-
laide, reported receiving signals.
One hour after launching
at 11:07 am. - the capsule /
passed over the Woomera sta