posted 06-28-2020 03:18 PM               

Space Cover #568: Tracking Project Mercury

Project Mercury would not have been possible without worldwide network support of the tracking stations and tracking ships. The basic design criteria used to create the tracking system were reliability, cost, and speed of implementation. Goddard Space Flight Center managed the building and operation of NASA's space flight tracking system.

There actually were very few major modifications made once the initial configuration of systems was established.

Here are some of the major changes made after the initial configuration was established:

1. The High-Frequncy (HF) link to Bermuda was dropped after the cable became available, and two high speed data circuits from Bermuda to Goddard Space Flight Center were added.

2. The network was expanded to include the switching, conferencing, and monitoring (SCAMA) voice capability to tracking stations at Canary Island, Kano, Zanzibar, Canton Island, and to two tracking ships USNS Rose Knot Victor, and USNS Coastal Sentry Quebec.

3. Zanzibar became a primary HF link for the USNS Coastal Sentry Quebec.

4. HF backup to Guaymas, Mexico was added.

The Mercury communications network included 102,000 miles of teletype lines, 60,000 miles of telephone lines, and 15,000 miles of high-speed data lines.

The ground communication system operated very satisfactorily for all Project Mercury missions.

Tracking station covers for the early Project Mercury missions are basically non-existant. Tracking station covers begin to appear for John Glenn's flight, but these are very rare. The remaining Project Mercury missions have a number of stations returning covers to collectors.

Above is a scan of the superb tracking station cover for Canton Island's participation for astronaut Gordon Cooper's mission in Faith-7, May 15-16, 1963. The cover was signed by the Station Manager and was postmarked on the launch date. It is by far, one of my favorite Project Mercury tracking station covers! Canton Island covers are one of the most sought after tracking station sites.

posted 06-29-2020 11:53 AM               

Please, let me to add this Mercury tracking cover from Canary Islands station.