Эноспен жасалған «Меркурий-Атлас 5» ғарыш сапары

Кіріспе

1961 жылғы Меркурий бағдарламасының американдық ғарышқа ұшуы

Меркурий Атлас 5 – Меркурий бағдарламасының американдық ғарышқа ұшуы. Ол 1961 жылдың 29 қарашасында, Енос есімді шимпанземен бірге ұшырылды. Ғарыш кемесі Жерді екі рет айналып, Бермудадан оңтүстікке қарай 322 шақырым жерге суға қонды. Осылайша, Енос Америка Құрама Штаттарынан шыққан алғашқы примат және Жерді айналып өткен үшінші ірі маймыл атанды.

Тарих

1961 жылдың қараша айына дейін КСРО Юрий Гагарин мен Герман Титовты «Восток-1» және «Восток-2» ғарыш сапарларында орбитаға шығарды, ал АҚШ тек орбитадан төменгі траекториядағы ұшуларды ғана жүзеге асырды. Сол кезде НАСА «Меркурий-Атлас» кіші бағдарламасы аясында орбитаға шимпанзе жіберу мәселесін талқылап жатқан болатын, сонымен қатар НАСА штаб-пәтері Адамды космос кемелері орталығының тағы бір адамсыз «Меркурий» миссиясын іске қосудың дұрыстығына күмән келтірді. Ұшу алдында НАСА-ның қоғамдық байланыс бөлімі баспасөз хабарламасын жариялап, «Меркурий жобасын басқаратын мамандар адам-астронавтты тәуекелге тігуден бұрын, бүкіл «Меркурий» бағдарламасын қажетті түрде алдын ала тексеру үшін шимпанзені орбитаға шығару қажет деп талап етті» деді.

Ұшыру және орбита

The flight used Mercury capsule #9 and Atlas #93 D. On February 24, 1961, spacecraft #9 arrived at Cape Canaveral and was set up there. Preflight preparation took 40 weeks. This was the longest preparation time in the Mercury program. The mission of spacecraft #9 kept changing. It was first configured for a suborbital instrumented flight, then for a suborbital chimpanzee flight, then a three-orbit instrumented mission, and finally for the orbital flight that Enos flew. MA 4's successful flight in September had renewed confidence in the Atlas's reliability, and although an Atlas E test carrying a monkey was lost in a launch failure that November, NASA officials assured the public that it was a different model of booster than the Atlas D used for the Mercury program and that that accident had no relevance here. Although MA 4 had performed well, there was still some concern about high vibration levels during the first 20 seconds of liftoff, so the autopilot on MA 5's booster was modified slightly to correct this problem. Atlas 93D arrived at CCAS on August 12 and was erected on LC 14 October 6. Prelaunch preparation proceeded relatively smoothly, with a number of minor repairs, including a potentially serious problem with the vernier engines not being bolted in place tightly, which could have resulted in damage to the airframe during launch. The Range Safety system on Atlas 93D was modified so that a manual cutoff command could be sent to the sustainer engine. This was to prevent the capsule from being accidentally boosted into a higher than planned orbit if engine over acceleration occurred. A more compact all solid state telemetry unit replaced the bulky vacuum tube based package used previously. Atlas 93D was the second D series Atlas to contain the new SMRD (Spin Motor Rotation Detection System), designed to ensure proper gyroscope operation prior to launch. MA 5 was planned as a close approximation of the upcoming MA 6 crewed orbital mission. Mercury Atlas 5 would be launched from Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral on a heading 72.51 degrees east of north. Orbital insertion of the Mercury spacecraft would occur 480 miles (772 km) from Cape Canaveral. The altitude would be 100 miles (161 km) and the speed would be Retrofire was planned to take place at 4 hours, 32 minutes, and 26 seconds after launch. The spacecraft would land 21 minutes and 49 seconds after retrofire. Reentry temperatures were expected to reach on the heatshield, on the antenna housing, on the cylindrical section, and on the conical section. The spent Atlas sustainer engine was expected to reenter the atmosphere after 9⅓ orbits. Spacecraft #9 had originally been intended to fly on MA 4, but Spacecraft #8 was used instead after having been recycled from the failed MA 3 launch. #9 was the second of the "Mark II" Mercury capsules with a larger square window and explosive bolt hatch, while the older "Mark I" capsule had small port windows and a heavy locking mechanism. Gus Grissom's flight on MR 4 had used a Mark II capsule, but it was necessary to test it on a proper orbital mission to ensure that the large window could handle the much higher heat of reentry there. On October 29, 1961, three chimpanzees and 12 medical specialists moved into quarters at the Cape to prepare for the flight. The name given to Enos, the chimpanzee selected to fly the MA 5 mission, in Hebrew means "man". Enos's backups were (in order of possible call up) Duane, Jim, Rocky, and Ham (the Mercury Redstone 2 veteran). Enos was from Cameroon, Africa (originally called Chimp # 81), and was purchased by the USAF on April 3, 1960. He was about 5 years old at the time of flight and weighed just under 40 pounds (18 kilograms). On November 29, 1961, about five hours before launch, Enos and his spacesuit couch were inserted in the spacecraft. During the countdown, various holds took 2 hours and 38 minutes. Liftoff came at 15:08 UTC. The Atlas launched the MA 5 spacecraft into an orbit of The modified autopilot apparently worked as vibration remained within comfortable levels and the boost phase was uneventful. All Atlas systems performed excellently and there were no performance deviations of any significance. BECO occurred at T+130 seconds and SECO/VECO at T+300 seconds, followed by capsule separation two seconds later. The turnaround and damping maneuver consumed of the of control fuel aboard. The spacecraft used less fuel than the MA 4 did during the same maneuver. MA 5 assumed its planned 34 degree orbital attitude and after that, through the first orbit the thrusters used only of fuel to maintain a correct position. At the end of the first orbit, ground controllers noticed the capsule clock was 18 seconds too fast. As it passed over Cape Canaveral a command was sent to update the clock to the correct time. The Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral received information that all spacecraft systems were in good condition. As the MA 5 passed over the Atlantic tracking ship at the beginning of the second orbit, indications were received that inverter temperatures were rising. The environmental control system malfunction was also confirmed by Canary Island trackers. Abnormal heating had occurred on earlier flights; in such cases, inverters had continued working or had been switched to standby. There was no alarm at Mercury Control. When the spacecraft reached Muchea, Australia, high thruster signals and capsule motion excursions were detected. Other data indicated that the 34° orbit mode was being maintained. When the MA 5 crossed the tracking station at Woomera, Australia, attitude control problems were not detected, so earlier reports were discounted.

The flight used Mercury capsule #9 and Atlas #93 D. On February 24, 1961, spacecraft # 9 arrived at Cape Canaveral. It took 40 weeks of preflight preparation. This was the longest preparation time in the Mercury program. The mission of spacecraft #9 kept changing. It was first configured for a suborbital instrumented flight, then for a suborbital chimpanzee flight, then a three orbit instrumented mission, and finally for the orbital flight that Enos flew. MA 4's successful flight in September had renewed confidence in the Atlas's reliability, and although an Atlas E test carrying a monkey was lost in a launch failure that November, NASA officials assured the public that it was a different model of booster than the Atlas D used for the Mercury program and that that accident had no relevance here. Although MA 4 had performed well, there was still some concern about high vibration levels during the first 20 seconds of liftoff, so the autopilot on MA 5's booster was modified slightly to correct this problem. Atlas 93D arrived at CCAS on August 12 and was erected on LC 14 October 6. Prelaunch preparation proceeded relatively smoothly, with a number of minor repairs, including a potentially serious problem with the vernier engines not being bolted in place tightly, which could have resulted in damage to the airframe during launch. The Range Safety system on Atlas 93D was modified so that a manual cutoff command could be sent to the sustainer engine. This was to prevent the capsule from being accidentally boosted into a higher than planned orbit if engine over acceleration occurred. A more compact all solid state telemetry unit replaced the bulky vacuum tube based package used previously. Atlas 93D was the second D series Atlas to contain the new SMRD (Spin Motor Rotation Detection System), designed to ensure proper gyroscope operation prior to launch. MA 5 was planned as a close approximation of the upcoming MA 6 crewed orbital mission. Mercury Atlas 5 would be launched from Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral on a heading 72.51 degrees east of north. Orbital insertion of the Mercury spacecraft would occur 480 mile (772 km) from Cape Canaveral. The altitude would be 100 mile (161 km) and the speed would be Retrofire was planned to take place at 4 hours, 32 minutes, and 26 seconds after launch. The spacecraft would land 21 minutes and 49 seconds after retrofire. Reentry temperatures were expected to reach on the heatshield, on the antenna housing, on the cylindrical section, and on the conical section. The spent Atlas sustainer engine was expected to reenter the atmosphere after 9⅓ orbits. Spacecraft #9 had originally been intended to fly on MA 4, but Spacecraft #8 was used instead after having been recycled from the failed MA 3 launch. #9 was the second of the "Mark II" Mercury capsules with a larger square window and explosive bolt hatch, while the older "Mark I" capsule had small port windows and a heavy locking mechanism. Gus Grissom's flight on MR 4 had used a Mark II capsule, but it was necessary to test it on a proper orbital mission to ensure that the large window could handle the much higher heat of reentry there. On October 29, 1961, three chimpanzees and 12 medical specialists moved into quarters at the Cape to prepare for the flight. The name given to Enos, the chimpanzee selected to fly the MA 5 mission, in Hebrew means "man". Enos's backups were (in order of possible call up) Duane, Jim, Rocky, and Ham (the Mercury Redstone 2 veteran). Enos was from Cameroon, Africa (originally called Chimp # 81), and was purchased by the USAF on April 3, 1960. He was about 5 years old at the time of flight and weighed just under 40 pounds (18 kilograms). On November 29, 1961, about five hours before launch, Enos and his spacesuit couch were inserted in the spacecraft. During the countdown, various holds took 2 hours and 38 minutes. Liftoff came at 15:08 UTC. The Atlas launched the MA 5 spacecraft into an orbit of The modified autopilot apparently worked as vibration remained within comfortable levels and the boost phase was uneventful. All Atlas systems performed excellently and there were no performance deviations of any significance. BECO occurred at T+130 seconds and SECO/VECO at T+300 seconds, followed by capsule separation two seconds later. The turnaround and damping maneuver consumed of the of control fuel aboard. The spacecraft used less fuel than the MA 4 did during the same maneuver. MA 5 assumed its planned 34 degree orbital attitude and after that, through the first orbit the thrusters used only of fuel to maintain a correct position. At the end of the first orbit, ground controllers noticed the capsule clock was 18 seconds too fast. As it passed over Cape Canaveral a command was sent to update the clock to the correct time. The Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral received information that all spacecraft systems were in good condition. As the MA 5 passed over the Atlantic tracking ship at the beginning of the second orbit, indications were received that inverter temperatures were rising. The environmental control system malfunction was also confirmed by Canary Island trackers. Abnormal heating had occurred on earlier flights; in such cases, inverters had continued working or had been switched to standby. There was no alarm at Mercury Control. When the spacecraft reached Muchea, Australia, high thruster signals and capsule motion excursions were detected. Other data indicated that the 34° orbit mode was being maintained. When the MA 5 crossed the tracking station at Woomera, Australia, attitude control problems were not detected, so earlier reports were discounted.

Қиындықтар

MA 5 капсуласы Кантон аралы станциясына жеткенде, Меркурий басқару орталығы қатынасты басқару жүйесінің істен шыққанын анықтады. Отын беру желісіндегі металл сынық салдарынан сағат тілімен айналатын жылдамдатқыштардың біреуі жұмыс істемей қалды. Істен шыққан жылдамдатқыш ғарыш кемесінің қалыпты бағытынан ауысуына әкеп соқты. Бұл ауысу автоматты тұрақтандыру және басқару жүйесін ғарыш кемесінің бағытын түзетуге мәжбүр етті. Ғарыш кемесі 34° орбиталық бағытқа оралып, процесс қайта басталды. Ғарыш кемесі бұл процесті тоғыз рет қайталады. 0,05 g (0,49 м/с²) жарық телеметриялық сигналы алынғанға дейін және қайта іске қосылғанға дейін ол тағы бір рет орындалды. Қалған жылдамдатқыштар екінші орбитада ғарыш кемесін дұрыс бағытта ұстау үшін отынды пайдаланды. Әрбір бағытты жоғалту бірінші орбитадағы отын тұтынумен салыстырғанда, одан көп отын шығындалуына себеп болды.

As the MA 5 capsule reached the Canton Island station, Mercury Control realized that the attitude control system was malfunctioning. A metal chip in a fuel supply line had caused one of the clockwise roll thrusters to fail. The failed thruster allowed the spacecraft to drift from its normal attitude. This drift caused the automatic stabilization and control system to correct the spacecraft attitude. The spacecraft would swing back into the normal 34° orbital attitude, and the sequence would start again. The spacecraft repeated this drift and correction process nine times before retrofire. It did it once more between retrofire and the receipt of the 0.05 g (0.49 m/s²) light telemetry signal. The remaining thrusters used of fuel to keep the spacecraft properly aligned during the second orbit. Each loss of attitude cost over of fuel as compared with the entire first orbit consumption of only
In addition to the attitude control problems, the environmental control system started having problems during the second orbit. The couch suit circuit temperature rapidly rose from This was an indication that the heat exchanger was freezing. The rise in suit temperature caused Enos' body temperature to rise to , then to The medical observers began to worry about the chimpanzee's condition. At , his body temperature stabilized. This indicated that the environmental system had started to function again. The cooling system seemed to correct itself, but the attitude problems continued. As the spacecraft neared Hawaii on its second orbit, medical monitors were willing to let Enos continue the flight for a third orbit. However, the engineering team were concerned about the stuck thruster causing high fuel consumption, so they advised terminating the flight before the capsule ran out of attitude control gas. Flight Director Christopher Kraft alerted the Hawaii controllers to be ready to initiate retrofire to bring the spacecraft down in the Pacific, if necessary. He also alerted controllers at Point Arguello, California, to be ready to initiate retrofire as MA 5 passed over their position. He allowed the spacecraft to continue to its normal second orbit retrofire position near California. Twelve seconds before the retrofire point was reached for the normal second orbit Atlantic primary recovery point, Kraft decided to bring Enos back to Earth. Arnold Aldrich, the chief flight controller at Point Arguello, executed the command. There was one more attitude control excursion early in reentry; after that, the rest of reentry and recovery were uneventful. The destroyers Stormes and Compton and a P5M aircraft were waiting for the spacecraft at Station 8, the predicted landing point. Three hours and 13 minutes after launch and nine minutes before splashdown, the aircraft spotted the spacecraft at an altitude of 5000 feet (1524 m) descending on its main parachute, about 250 miles south of Bermuda. The information was relayed to Stormes and Compton, who were 30 mile (48 km) away. The spacecraft recovery aids were all functioning, except for the SARAH beacon. During the descent, the aircraft continued to circle and report landing events. It remained in the area until Stormes arrived, an hour and 15 minutes after the landing. Stormes hauled Enos and his spacecraft aboard. On the deck of Stormes, the MA 5 hatch was blown explosively. It was released from outside the capsule by pulling a lanyard. Blowing the hatch caused the spacecraft "picture" window to crack.

Одан бөлек, екінші орбитада қоршаған ортаны басқару жүйесінде де мәселелер туындады. Ауыртпалық костюмінің температурасы тез өсті. Бұл жылу алмастырғыштың қатып қалғанын көрсетеді. Костюм температурасының көтерілуі Энос тінің дене температурасының өсуіне әкеп соқты, содан кейін медициналық бақылаушылар шимпанзе күйіне алаңдады. 0,3 градуста дене температурасы тұрақталды. Бұл қоршаған ортаны басқару жүйесінің қайтадан жұмыс істей бастағанын көрсетті. Салқындату жүйесі өзін-өзі түзеткендей болды, бірақ бағытты басқару мәселелері жалғасты. Ғарыш кемесі екінші орбитада Гавайиге жақындағанда, медициналық бақылаушылар Эносқа үшінші орбитада ұшуды жалғастыруға рұқсат берді. Алайда инженерлер тоқтап қалған жылдамдатқыштан туындаған жоғары отын тұтыну туралы алаңдады, сондықтан капсулаға отын бітіп қалмас үшін ұшуды тоқтатуды ұсынды. Ұшу директоры Кристофер Крафт Тынық мұхитына ғарыш кемесін түсіру үшін қайта іске қосуға дайын болуды әуе бақылаушыларына ескертті. Сонымен қатар ол Калифорниядағы Пойнт Аргуэллодағы бақылаушыларға MA 5 олардың үстінен өтіп бара жатқанда қайта іске қосуды бастауға дайын болуды ескертті. Ол ғарыш кемесінің Калифорнияға жақын екінші орбиталық қалпына келтіру орнына өтуіне рұқсат берді. Екінші орбиталық Атлантикалық негізгі қалпына келтіру нүктесі үшін қайта іске қосу нүктесіне жетуге 12 секунд қалғанда Крафт Эносты Жерге қайтаруды шешті. Арнольд Олдрич, Пойнт Аргуэллодағы бас ұшу бақылаушысы, бұйрықты орындады. Қайта кірудің басында тағы бір бағыттық ауытқу болды; одан кейін, қайта кірудің қалған бөлігі мен қалпына келтіру оқиғасыз өтті. "Стормс" және "Комптон" эсминдері және P5M ұшағы 8-ші станциядағы ғарыш кемесін күтіп тұрды. Ұшырудан 3 сағат 13 минут өткеннен кейін және жерге түсуге 9 минут қалғанда ұшақ аспан кемесін 5000 фут (1524 м) биіктікте, Бермудадан оңтүстікке қарай 250 миль жерде, негізгі парашютпен төмен түсіп жатқанын байқады. Бұл ақпарат 48 шақырым қашықтықта орналасқан "Стормс" пен "Комптонға" жеткізілді. Ғарыш кемесінің барлық қалпына келтіру құралдары жұмыс істеп тұрды, САРАХ маягынан басқа. Ұшақ құлай бастағанда да, айнала айналып, қону оқиғалары туралы хабарлай берді. Ол жерге түскеннен кейін бір сағат 15 минут өткенде, "Стормс" келгенше сол жерде қалды. "Стормс" Энос пен оның ғарыш кемесін бортына көтерді. "Стормс" кемесінің палубасында MA 5 люгі жарылыспен ашылды. Ол капсуладан сыртқа шығып, арқанды тарту арқылы ашылды. Люктің жарылуынан ғарыш кемесінің "сурет" терезесі жарылды.

Құмға түсіргеннен кейін

Ғарыш кемесі де, Энос та миссиядан жақсы жағдайда аман қалды, бірақ шимпанзе денесінен барлық медициналық электродтар мен зәр жинау құрылғысын алып тастаған. 1962 жылдың 4 қарашасында Энос шигеллез қоздырған дизентериядан қайтыс болды, ол сол кездегі антибиотиктерге төзімді болды. Ол өлімге дейін екі ай бойы үздіксіз бақылауда болды. Холломан патологтары бір жыл бұрын оның ғарышқа ұшуымен байланысты ешқандай белгі таппағанын хабарлады. Меркурий ғарыш кемесі мен Атлас күшейткіші енді адамды орбитаға шығаруға дайын деп танылды.