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After Scott Carpenter’s science heavy Mercury-Atlas 7 flight, Nasa’s next mission would concentrate on the technical and engineering aspects of space travel. Mercury Atlas 8 became the third manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The pilot selected was Walter M. Schirra, Jr., but most people called him Wally…
Mission Logo
Wally Schirra
Sigma 7
Lift-off
Splash Down
Recovery
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After the successful completion of the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight that carried John Glenn into orbit, it was Scott Carpenter’s turn to pilot Mercury-Atlas 7, which he named Aurora 7. The mission was essentially a repeat of John Glenn’s 3 orbit mission, except the focus of this mission was on science. The full flight plan included the first study of liquids in weightlessness, Earth photography, star observations, Venus sightings and a multitude of other experiments…
Scott Carpenter
Scott Carpenter
Capsule Inspection
Boarding
Liftoff Aurora 7
Splashdown
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Mercury Control was still undecided on the course of action to take with the heat shield problem. Some controllers thought the retrorocket pack should be jettisoned after retrofire, while other controllers thought the retro pack should be retained, as added assurance that the heat shield would stay in place…
Watching the Mission
Splashdown
![mercury-flight-25[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.spacerockethistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mercury-flight-253.jpg?ssl=1)
The Mercury 7
![mercury-flight-26[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.spacerockethistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mercury-flight-263.jpg?ssl=1)
Glenn and JFK
![mercury-flight-27[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.spacerockethistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mercury-flight-273.jpg?ssl=1)
NYC Parade
Friendship 7
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“I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it! They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by. They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and they’re all brilliantly lighted.” John Glenn – Friendship 7
John Glenn
Glenn Enters
Launch
Glenn in Space
View from Capsule
By Dave
