Everything you never knew you wanted to know about the Mercury Project

From RixWiki

I have been checking some of the existing photos of the Faith 7 spacecraft, and it seems to me that there are the following adjustments that have to be made to the MRC kit for the MA9 spacecraft. Namely; (a) The satellite clock actually sits proud of the instrument panel. The kit has it recessed into the panel. Refer to the photo in the following link http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/images/DSCN4489.JPG

(b) The top most row of instrument dials is incorrect on the right hand side. The kit has moulded two instrument barrels at the rear of the panel at the very top row. The right hand one of these is actaully the cabin air temperature and does not have an instrument barrel behind the panel. It has a thin steel probe - essentially a meat thermometer - projecting behind the panel. Also the left hand instrument barrel ((Cabin Pressure) is at right angles to the panel at the location - not in the same plane as the other instrument barrels. You can see this clearly in the previous photo.

(c) In the 2nd to top layer of instrument barrels that have been moulded on the rear of the the right hand side of the panel, the left hand one needs to be shifted to the right of the right hand instrument. Refer to the photo from the following link.

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/images/DSCN4523.JPG

(d) NASA working paper 10-037 suggests that the lightweight net couch system was not used on the Faith 7 flight. However, it was installed and can be seen on the Freedom 7 II spacecraft because this was conceived for a long duration mission. Reference: Page 13 of 10-037 - "The development ..... of a lightweight net couch & restraint system for use in the Mercury spacecraft" page 13 says ".... since the Mercury program was terminated with the MA-9 flight this system was not used". http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750064251_1975064251.pdf

(e) The colour around the window in Faith 7 was red as per the other Mercury spacecraft. Refer photo on

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/images/DSCN4510.JPG

Regards Phil Hansen

Some more comments

Just to be clear about the seat. Faith 7 did NOT use the mesh seat. It was considered for weight reduction reasons, but rejected. Here is what "This New Ocean" the official NASA history of Project Mercury has to say: --- Weight growth had been the primary nemesis in preparing for every Mercury mission, and this was especially true for the day-long mission. As is characteristic perhaps of all American technology, and especially of advanced modifications to military aircraft, overweight accessories tended to compromise the vehicles' performance. In the case of the MODM spacecraft, heavier batteries for more electrical power, another 4-pound bottle of oxygen, 9 pounds of cooling and 4.5 pounds of drinking water, plus 15 more pounds of peroxide fuel were imperative additions. Experimental gear, a full load of consumables for life support systems, and various modified components were also judged necessary, though heavier, installations. In an effort to compensate for these added weights, the 12-pound Rate Stabilization Control System (RSCS), a 3-pound UHF and a 2-pound telemetry transmitter, both of which were true redundancies now; and, in particular, the 76-pound periscope were deleted. Manned Spacecraft Center engineers almost discarded the fiber-glass couch in favor of a new hammock to shave away 17 more pounds, but that change did not materialize because the engineers feared the material might stretch and the astronaut bounce. So the MA-9 payload continued, through 31 weeks of grooming, to grow into an estimated weight of 3,026.3 pounds in orbit. --- As I've mentioned before the Atomic City Kit was based on spacecraft 15 which differed in several significant respects from earlier Mercury Spacecraft, and care needs to be taken in building an accurate model of any of the actual manned vehicles. The instrument panel is another area to be careful about.

Other reference material based on Capsule 15 such as the QTVR panorama from the NASM Udvar Hazy center also need to be used with knowledge of the differences. Interestingly enough, the couch in the kit more accurately represents the couch used for MA-8 and MA-9 than the mesh couch intended for MA-9. These two spacecraft used couches which were similar to earlier ones, but which had the leg supports removed.

Rick DeNatale 22:20, 26 Mar 2005 (EST)