quote:
Originally posted by moorouge:
Still a mystery is the technical fault alluded to by Wally Schirra and never explained by him.
I can't say that this is the "technical fault" referred to by Wally, but...Caveat: It has literally been decades since I read the book. The Russians launch from a significantly higher latitude than NASA. To maximize payload, this results in an orbital inclination equal to the latitude of the launch site. Thus, the orbit of the Soviet craft would normally cross the Mercury's orbit at a large angle.
However, when the Russian rescue craft is launched it intentionally violates the launch azimuth safety limits in order to achieve about a 45-degree orbit rather than the usual 65-degrees. Later, the Russian makes a plane change that puts him in the same orbital plane as Mercury 7, about 32.5 degrees. NASA is stunned that the Russians can orbit a craft with the capability to accomplish this large of a plane change.
After the rescue, the Americans observe the Russians retrofire and comment that he's "going home." Not to the Soviet Union he isn't. The Vostok had no lift capability to change its landing site. The northernmost point of his orbital track would put him on the southern soviet border with an excellent chance of landing in China or the Middle East.
Cosmonauts do receive emergency training for a water arrival, but I wonder if the Soviets would have risked this? Considering that they participated in the rescue of a US astronaut, they would more likely request a landing somewhere in the Texas desert for example.
The Soviets would have planned ahead for this, and if their rescue was successful, a US astronaut would have returned in their Vostok learning much about that vehicle in the process. An agreement to keep 'hands off' the Vostok could be made, and the cosmonaut could stand guard until a Soviet team arrived at the landing site, and report anything more than a casual inspection.
One other thing that I just remembered; if I recall correctly, after the Mercury hatch is closed in preparation for launch, Pruett opens the "snorkels" for fresh air.
Now that I've done some rumination, I may just find myself a copy of this book and do some reading!