Evening star., 1963-05-15
MERCURY
Cooper's Planned Trip Ends
In Pacific Tomorrow Niqht
Continued From Page AL

Continued From Page Al
through the third orbit, Mai.
Cooper fired q small satellites
satellite" into space to start the
first major scientific-engineer-
ing experiment Of his flight.
This object, a small sphere
with bright, flashing xenon
strobe lights on 1t, is designed
to give the spaceman an idea
Of what it will be like to observe
a target vehicle in space during
rendezvous operations sched-
uled for Project Gemini in 1865.
Mai. Cooper made no immed-
late comment about the bea-
con, which he will attempt to
observe through the sixth orbit,
ending about $50 tonight.
The launching followed
nearly flawless countdown that
more than compensated for the
disappointment Of yesterday
when two items Of equipment
stalled the first attempt to
launch the rocket.
II all goes well. "Gordo"
Cooper will orbit the earth %
times before landing about 7:20
pm. (EDTj tomorrow about 30
miles from Midway Island in
the Pacific.
Planned duration Of this
Project Mercury swan song
flight is "a hours. 19 minutes.
81 seconds.
In this period Of less than
a day and a half, Mai. Cooper
will travel nearly 100000 miles
at a constant velocity Of al
most five miles q second.
At 10:31 am, Mai. Cooper
received from his fellow astro-
naut, Virgil /. (Gus) Grissom.
a go-ahead signal that assured
him of Americas orbital space
record, barring some unforsee-
able emergency.
Mai. Grissom. on the ground
at Guaymas, Mexico, relayed
word from Mercury Control
here that the flight was good
for seven orbits. Decisions
will be made later on extending
the flight to II orbits and
eventually the planned %
orbits if all goes well.
Space Suit Temperature
Mai. Cooper completed two
orbits at 1911 pm. = right on
schedule - with early space
suit trouble apparently straight
ening itself out as it had done
in the flight Of Walter Schirra
in October.
Over the Island Of Zanzibar
during the second orbit at
1l:09 am, instruments aboard
the capsule indicated a space
suit temperature of so degrees
and a cabin temperature Of
los degrees. The former seemed
a little chilly and the latter a
little warm. but Mai. Cooper |
reported himself very COM
Portable"
Earlier, wild fluctuations in
space suit temperature read
ings, ranging from So to 81
degrees, and q cabin tempera-
ture reading Of an oven-like |
ll8 were reported. It was not
known how much Of this was
actual readings and how much
bad signals from the spaceship.
Medical Report
The first medical report on
the Air Force test pilot was
given about 21a hours after
he was launched. His heart
beat, which had been at a peak
of $50 per minute during the
stress of high acceleration after
liftoff, was down to a COM
Portable 80 to 86.
His temperature, taken orally
instead of rectally as on earlier
flights, was 98.5 degrees, only
a fraction Of a degree above
normal for humans. Blood
pressure was around 100 sis
talic over 80 distallic and res
piration was ranging between
IL and 20 breaths per minute.
II think he is in excellent
physical shape" 1t. Col.
Charles E. Berry, the chief
medical officer for the astro-
naut team, said.
Handling Fuel Supply
The astronaut apparently
was managing his supply OF
"consumables" quite well. His
fuel for steering the spacecraft
remained at the 90 per cent
mark on the automatic system
and 96 on the manual.
The danger point at which
serious consideration would be
given toward bringing him back
10 earth are SO per cent auto
matte and 65 per cent manual.
In the Az hours following
the time he was sealed in the