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Author
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Topic: Reasons for Friendship 7's off-target landing
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Jim_Voce
Member Posts: 273
From:
Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 02-12-2017 04:24 AM
   
When Friendship 7 returned to earth its splashdown was slightly off target from its planned splashdown point. As a consequence, the capsule was picked up by a Navy destroyer, the Noa rather than the aircraft carrier, the Randolph, which was the intended recovery ship. Does anyone know why Friendship 7 was off target when it landed? Did the retropack that was left on the capsule during reentry perturb Friendship 7's trajectory somewhat? |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-12-2017 07:00 AM
According to one source this was because they failed to take into account the weight loss of the capsule in orbit when calculating the retro-fire timings. |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 87
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 02-12-2017 07:11 AM
The following from "This New Ocean: A History Of Project Mercury," page 433 and "The Results of The First Manned Orbital Space Flight," page 80, although I assume the "calculated" landing point was derived post retro fire. Friendship 7 had splashed into the Atlantic about 40 miles short of the predicted area, as retrofire calculations had not taken into account the spacecraft's weight loss in consumables.  |
Jim_Voce
Member Posts: 273
From:
Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 10-06-2017 04:51 AM
Normally, Friendship 7's retro-pack would have been ejected before reentry. But due to the faulty signal regarding the spacecraft's heatshield, Mission Control instructed John Glenn to not eject the retro-pack. As such, the pack burnt up on re-entry until the remains of it fell away and the heatshield was finally completely exposed.Is it possible that leaving the retro-pack had any shifting affect on the spacecraft and therefore deviated Friendship 7's landing path somewhat? |
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