Topic: May 5, 1961: Remembering Mercury-Redstone 3
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 795 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted May 05, 2009 08:44 AM
Alan Shepard's 15-minute suborbital flight marked the first American space flight. On the left is the pilot observation camera. On the right is the instrument panel camera. Both cameras are visible in the footage.
The instrument panel camera is the small lens in the upper right hand corner of the pilot footage, just over Shepard's left shoulder. The pilot observation camera is the little lens in the lower left hand corner of the instrument panel.
This footage is from a new digital transfer made by Spacecraft Films with the National Archives, who is now the holder of the original film.
The track covers his entire flight. Footage contained as separate angles on the Spacecraft Films Project Mercury DVD set.
KSCartist Member
Posts: 2300 From: Titusville, FL USA Registered: Feb 2005
posted May 05, 2009 08:45 AM
Just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Cinquo de Mayo or what I call as "Alan Shepard in Space" Day.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 05, 2009 08:46 AM
It is a great day! I remember it just like it was yesterday.
divemaster Member
Posts: 1163 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
posted May 05, 2009 04:47 PM
Had to chime in with a personal note from Uncle Bill:
Thanks for the greeting on "OK Jose, you're on your way" day. Hope all is well with you and yours. xxb
Bill Dana
dwmzmm Member
Posts: 82 From: Katy, TX USA Registered: Dec 2006
posted May 05, 2009 06:37 PM
Wow, thanks for sharing this footage! I've never seen an uncut, full 15 minutes like this of Alan Shepard's flight. Loved every second of it!
Proponent Member
Posts: 59 From: London Registered: Oct 2008
posted May 07, 2009 05:41 AM
Great footage!
Why is Shepard repeatedly calling out fuel levels near the beginning? I'd have thought that the capsule's own thrusters would not have been active at that point, so there'd be no reason to focus on the capsule's fuel supply, and I doubt that Shepard had any indication of the fuel in the Redstone's tanks.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 07, 2009 06:10 AM
That's what a test pilot does. Reports the condition of his craft regardless of whether the system is being used or not. There is always the possibility of stress causing leaks and ruptures to a storage tank.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 05, 2010 07:59 PM
What a fabulous day it was today 49 years ago! Remember it like it was yesterday.
I miss that feeling in the United States today.
Joe Frasketi Member
Posts: 159 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2003
posted May 05, 2010 08:01 PM
T+49 years and counting. Next year will be the big 5-0 for this historic flight.
I have a question that's been bugging me for years, and never really got an answer to it.
On May 5, 1961, I was working at the telemetry tracking station at Antigua AAFB some 1300 miles downrange. Although we were not involved in this suborbital flight with splashdown in the Bahamas some 150 miles downrange from Cape Canaveral, we wanted to see if we might be able to pick up a signal from the Mercury capsule.
Sure enough we did pick up a signal which only lasted a few seconds, approximately at the actual lift off time, with the tracking antenna pointed towards Cape Canaveral with it at the horizon.
Was later told that it was impossible to have picked up any signal from the Shepard's Mercury capsule.
Am still wondering if this was possible. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 05, 2010 08:20 PM
Define "signal".
Joe Frasketi Member
Posts: 159 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2003
posted May 05, 2010 10:14 PM
Defining "Signal": In this particular case, radio frequency waves emanating from the spacecraft.
Obviousman Member
Posts: 405 From: NSW, Australia Registered: May 2005
posted May 06, 2010 05:54 AM
What frequency signal? HF? VHF? I suspect that "skip" (or similar) may well have been responsible for your momentary acquisition.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 06, 2010 06:39 AM
I suspect you're right with the skip statement. It was most likely VHF amplitude modulation which is very susceptible to atmospheric skip, and the fact that the frequency was quiet and only being used by one entity, that would make it easier to obtain.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 23493 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted May 05, 2011 04:26 AM
NASA Television video release
50 years ago: Alan Shepard, first American in space
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard made history, becoming the first U.S. astronaut in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight in his Freedom 7 capsule.
kking Member
Posts: 98 From: Topmost, Ky. USA Registered: Nov 2002
posted May 05, 2011 06:35 AM
I got my tapes out listening to Shorty Powers giving updates on the countdown. A historic day 50 years ago.
capoetc Member
Posts: 1520 From: Newnan GA (USA) Registered: Aug 2005
posted May 05, 2011 10:11 AM
A big Air Force salute goes out today to the first American in space and fifth man to walk on the moon ... Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
Vaya con dios, Jose!
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 1011 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted May 05, 2011 11:15 AM
I called my Mom at 9:34 AM this morning to thank her for making me watch that launch when I was a small child. It was the start of my love for everything that can fly and especially the Space Program.
drjeffbang Member
Posts: 85 From: Virginia Registered: Nov 2009
posted May 05, 2011 01:00 PM
My daughter and I celebrated by watching "For Miles and Miles" from "From the Earth to the Moon" last night.
Rick Boos Member
Posts: 777 From: Celina,Ohio U.S.A. Registered: Feb 2000
posted May 05, 2011 01:03 PM
It's hard to believe it's been 50 years, where has time gone? Great day, great man, and great event! Let's not forget the 50th anniversary for the other Mercury guys when their dates roll around!
DChudwin Member
Posts: 781 From: Lincolnshire IL USA Registered: Aug 2000
posted May 05, 2011 02:00 PM
I remember the day well-- the degree of excitement around the nation was phenomenal.
Any speculation about the circumstances under which Al would have been the first human in space instead of Gagarin? I personally remember the disappointment when the Soviets were first.
Ken Havekotte Member
Posts: 1599 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
posted May 05, 2011 02:54 PM
Dave, in short, it was mainly because von Braun wanted another booster development flight before MR-3 was to fly with Shepard piloting Freedom 7.
It was an awesome ceremony this morning in celebrating America's first astronaut spaceflight here at the Cape's old Launch Pad #5.
Throughout the ceremony, as we were seated on the actual pad concrete base, my eyes kept looking at the full-size Mercury Redstone rocket in front of me, the same type booster Shepard had flew on a half a century ago to this day!
It looked so small, or tiny, and primitive in comparison to later Saturn family launch vehicles, the current-day space shuttle, and to bigger, more powerful Atlas and Delta rocket machines.
In thinking back; where was I on this May day five decades ago? I was an Air Force brat, about 5 years of age, with my family stationed on an air force base in Puerto Rico, actually, a part of the 5,000-mile Atlantic Missile Range, when Shepard became America's first spaceman. At the time, I was probably playing with one of my toy rocket moon base sets.
Little did I know, fifty years later, would I be working on, observing, and celebrating the anniversary of a true American space hero on Florida's space coast, not really too far from that air force base in the West Indies I was on in 1961.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 23493 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
NASA commemorated today the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned space flight with a time-synchronized multimedia replay of the 15-minute suborbital mission at the same Cape Canaveral launch pad that was used by the late astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. on May 5, 1961.
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1246 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted May 05, 2011 04:07 PM
I was at the event today, too. Like Ken, I was a young brat at the time of Shepard's flight. Watching it on TV was one of my earliest memories. It was an overwhelming feeling to sit at the launchpad today and watch the replay of Shepard's flight, reflecting on his bravery, the courage of his family, the hard work of the team that made the flight possible, and just how far we all have come in 50 years. It is at special occasions like this that I especially appreciate the community we have at cS, people who mark these events with true interest and respect.
Posts: 279 From: Delray Beach Florida USA Registered: Mar 2006
posted May 05, 2011 05:20 PM
I was there today also and got to talk for a few seconds to Ken. It was great seeing and talking to so many people who worked on the Mercury project. I finished the afternoon buying a couple of books at the Air Force Space Museum located outside the Port Canaveral gate next to Space X Launch Operations building. It was a great day.
mercsim Member
Posts: 125 From: Phoenix, AZ Registered: Feb 2007
posted May 05, 2011 05:57 PM
I think most of us have seen that footage dozens (ok, maybe hundreds) of times. However, NASA did a great job of putting together a great tribute for this great day.
His daughter Julie really summed it all up when she said "Who wouldn't want to follow that type of fellow American into whatever you were going to accomplish".
.
PeterO Member
Posts: 105 From: Rochester, NH Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 06, 2011 07:34 AM
New Hampshire Public TV aired a special last night called Light This Candle.
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted May 08, 2011 02:23 PM
I wish I had been at the Cape!
I celebrated by watching the TV version of "Moonshot", and FTETTM's "Can we do this?" and "Miles and Miles". I also looked at the film "Race into Space" (which I also advised- but they didn't listen!)
J. M. Busby Aerospace Legacy Foundation
ejectr Member
Posts: 1444 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted May 09, 2011 10:56 AM
Which President gave Shepard his appointment to Rear Admiral lower half?
NavySpaceFan Member
Posts: 582 From: Norfolk, VA Registered: May 2007
posted May 09, 2011 11:43 AM
quote:Originally posted by ejectr: Which President gave Shepard his appointment to Rear Admiral lower half?
It was President Nixon in 1971, and the rank was just Rear Admiral. The upper half/lower half thing did not occur until the late 80s/early 90s.
Captain Apollo Member
Posts: 146 From: UK Registered: Jun 2004
posted May 11, 2011 12:28 PM
quote:Originally posted by PeterO: New Hampshire Public TV aired a special last night called Light This Candle.
The version of Astronaut Hero on NHTV can't be the original - it has footage of Al on the moon in there.
posted May 05, 2009 08:44 AM
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