List of Illustrations

Mercury Spacecraft — **Frontispiece:** Mercury spacecraft with escape tower

Figure 1: Closeup view of Recruit Escape Rocket and full-scale spacecraft
Figure 2: Mercury spacecraft in orbit: Artist's conception
Figure 3: Little Joe on launcher at Wallops during checkout
Figure 4: Pilot egress trainer
Figure 5: Manufacture of Mercury spacecraft at McDonnell plant, St. Louis, Mo.
Figure 6: Shadowgraph of spacecraft model in Ames Supersonic Free-Flight Pressurized Range
Figure 7: Equipment installation in the parachute canister
Figure 8: McDonnell mockup of Mercury spacecraft including Atlas adapter and escape system
Figure 9: Escape rocket motor
Figure 10: The seven Mercury astronauts
Figure 11: Scale model of escape tower configuration
Figure 12: Honeycomb structure partially to absorb impact force
Figure 13: Spacecraft and escape system configuration
Figure 14: Human centrifuge used in Mercury astronaut training program
Figure 15: Spacecraft interior arrangement
Figure 16: Astronaut survival equipment stowed in Mercury spacecraft
Figure 17: Recovery test spacecraft showing recovery aids
Figure 18: Main 63-foot ringsail parachute
Figure 19: White room in Hanger S at Cape Canaveral
Figure 20: Spacecraft with McDonnell designed escape system ready for firing at Wallops Island
Figure 21: Spacecraft reaction control system
Figure 22: Vehicle for drogue parachute test at NASA Flight Research Center
Figure 23: Flight plan for drogue parachute tests at NASA Flight Research Center
Figure 24: Big Joe on launch pad at Cape Canaveral for ballistic reentry flight test
Figure 25: Spacecraft instrument control panel
Figure 26: Three-axis hand controller
Figure 27: Mercury spacecraft heat shield after reentry
Figure 28: Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral
Figure 29: Plaster forms of contour couches
Figure 30: Reaction control thrust chamber
Figure 31: Rhesus monkey, "Miss Sam," being placed in container for LJ-1B flight
Figure 32: Manufacture of Mercury spacecraft at McDonnell plant, St. Louis, Mo.
Figure 33: Landing shock attenuation system
Figure 34: Astronauts in weightless flight in C-131 aircraft
Figure 35: Mercury altitude test chamber in Hanger S, Cape Canaveral
Figure 36: Posigrade rocket motor
Figure 37: Pressure suit worn by Alan Shepard on first manned suborbital space flight
Figure 38: Mercury environmental control system
Figure 39: Mercury-Atlas 1
Figure 40: Mobile pad egress tower (cherry picker)
Figure 41: Mercury spacecraft and astronaut Shepard being recovered by Marine Corps helicopter
Figure 42: Tower jettison rocket motor
Figure 43: Computers used in Mercury orbital track at Goddard Space Flight Center
Figure 44: Spacecraft antennas
Figure 45: Chimpanzee, "Ham," flown in Mercury-Redstone 2 suborbital flight
Figure 46: Impact attenuation
Figure 47: Atlas launch vehicle 100-D delivered to Cape Canaveral for Mercury-Atlas 3 flight
Figure 48: MA-8 orbital track: Mercury worldwide tracking network
Figure 49: Tracking site at Kano, Nigeria, Africa
Figure 50: Scout launch vehicle proposed to test Mercury worldwide tracking network
Figure 51: Mercury-Redstone 3: First manned suborbital space flight
Figure 52: Mercury-Redstone 3 flight profile
Figure 53: Freedom 7 returned by helicopter to USS Lake Champlain
Figure 54: Key personnel in Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral
Figure 55: Normal Mercury-Atlas orbital mission sequence
Figure 56: Auxiliary flotation collar
Figure 57: Production of Atlas launch vehicles at Convair Astronautics plant
Figure 58: Chimpanzee, "Enos," flown in Mercury-Atlas 5 two-orbit mission
Figure 59: Scuba divers prepare for recovery of Mercury spacecraft
Figure 60: Mercury-Atlas 6: First manned (Glenn) orbital flight
Figure 61: Balloon experiment
Figure 62: Zero-gravity experiment
Figure 63: Astronaut couch modifications
Figure 64: MA-8 ditty bag contents
Figure 65: Astronaut departs transfer van for Mercury-Atlas gantry
Figure 66: Atlas launch vehicle 130-D (MA-9) undergoing inspection at Cape Canaveral
Figure 67: Flight pressure suit of astronaut L. Gordon Cooper used in MA-9, 22-obit mission
Figure 68: Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper prepares for insertion in Faith 7 (MA-9)