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Beach Abort

Boilerplate Mercury spacecraft with launch escape system on the ground before July 22, 1959 test flight
Mission type	Abort test
Operator	NASA
Mission duration	1 minutes, 16 seconds
Distance travelled	1.6 kilometres (1 mi)
Apogee	0.80 kilometres (0.5 mi)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Mercury No.1
Manufacturer	McDonnell Aircraft
Launch mass	1,007 kilograms (2,220 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	May 9, 1960 (1960-05-09)
Rocket	Mercury LES
Launch site	Wallops
End of mission
Landing date	May 9, 1960 (1960-05-10)
Project Mercury Abort Tests← Little Joe 1BLittle Joe 5 →

The Beach Abort was an uncrewed test in NASA's Project Mercury, of the Mercury spacecraft Launch Escape System. Objectives of the test were a performance evaluation of the escape system, the parachute and landing system, and recovery operations in an off-the-pad abort situation. The test took place at NASA's Wallops Island, Virginia, test facility on May 9, 1960. In the test, the Mercury spacecraft and its Launch Escape System were fired from ground level. The flight lasted a total of 1 minute, 16 seconds. The spacecraft reached an apogee of 0.751 kilometres (2,465 ft) and splashed down in the ocean with a range of 0.97 kilometres (0.6 mi).Top speed was a velocity of 436 metres per second (976 mph). A Marine Corps helicopter recovered the spacecraft 17 minutes after launch. The test was considered a success, although there was insufficient separation distance when the tower jettisoned. Mercury Spacecraft #1, the first spacecraft off McDonnell's production line, was used in this test. Total payload weight was 1,154 kilograms (2,544 lb).

Mercury Spacecraft #1 is displayed at the New York Hall of Science, Corona Park, NY. It is displayed indoors, suspended from the ceiling, with an escape tower of unknown provenance attached.

Gallery

• Flight of the spacecraft and launch escape system. In frame 6 the two separate and the spacecraft lands by parachute in frame 10
• Technicians prepare a full-scale capsule which would be used for the test

See also

• Boilerplate (spaceflight)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

1. ^ Dumoulin, Jim. "Beach-Abort (7)". NASA Kennedy Space Center Science. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
2. Pearlman, Robert (7 May 2010). "NASA's Launch Abort Test Builds on 50 Years of Astronaut Escape Systems". Space.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
3. ^ Bauduin, Pierre; McDowell, Johnathan. "Mercury BA-1". WEEBAU SPACE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
4. "New York Hall of Science Rocket Park Exhibit". Archived from the original on 2008-03-03.

External links

• This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury - NASA SP-4201 Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
• Video of Mercury Beach Abort Test
• Additional Images of the Spacecraft

v t e Project Mercury
General	NASA Space Task Group Space race Space flight
Missions	Crewed Suborbit: Freedom 7 Liberty Bell 7 Earth orbit: Friendship 7 Aurora 7 Sigma 7 Faith 7 Cancelled: Freedom 7 II Uncrewed Little Joe 1 Big Joe 1 LJ-6 LJ-1A LJ-2 LJ-1B Beach Abort MA-1 Little Joe 5 MR-1 MR-1A MR-2 MA-2 LJ-5A MR-BD MA-3 LJ-5B MA-4 MS-1 MA-5
Flown non-human	Sam Miss Sam Suborbit: Ham Earth orbit: Enos
Astronauts	General Mercury Seven In order of flight Suborbit: Alan Shepard Gus Grissom Earth orbit: John Glenn Scott Carpenter Wally Schirra Gordon Cooper Did not fly: Deke Slayton Equipment Navy Mark IV (space suit)
Subprograms	Mercury-Atlas Mercury-Redstone Mercury-Scout Mercury-Jupiter (canceled)
Contractors	McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (spacecraft) Convair (Atlas rocket) Chrysler (Redstone rocket) North American Aviation (Little Joe rocket)
Rockets	Atlas Redstone Blue Scout II Little Joe Jupiter (proposed)
Launch sites and Control Center	Wallops Island / Wallops Flight Facility Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 Mercury Control Center
Related programs	US Gemini (successor program) Apollo (lunar program) Soviet Vostok (rival in space race)
Related	Manned Space Flight Network Mercury spacesuit Astronaut Wives Club Mercury 13 (non-NASA project inspired by Project Mercury)

• Project Mercury
• 1960 in the United States
• Test spaceflights
• New York Hall of Science
• Flight abort