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Author
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Topic: Cooper's calculations for MA-9 re-entry
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moorouge
Member Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-22-2018 07:35 AM
   
May I ask a question on behalf of a third party? The question he poses is this —
What did Gordon Cooper actually calculate when he used his wristwatch, lines drawn of the cockpit window and a constellation to calculate his re-entry on the Mercury mission when the automatic systems failed?My initial answer was that most of these were done in Mission Control and that Cooper used these and followed instructions from the ground. However, I stand to be corrected. |
oly
Member Posts: 971
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 11-22-2018 04:29 PM
From Cooper's oral history interview: Cooper: lost the total electrical system. Well, it meant that I had the manual push/pull rods to activate the jets for attitude control. I had eyeballs out the window for my attitude—my pitch, roll, and yaw attitude. I had a wrist¬watch for timing. And I had to activate each and every one of the relays, and I'd have to manually fire the retros while manually flying the spacecraft. So, everything had to be done manually. I'd have to control the spacecraft all the way through reentry. I'd have to put my drogue out manually. And I'd have to deploy my parachute manually. I'd have to deploy the landing bag manually. |
oly
Member Posts: 971
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 11-22-2018 06:17 PM
Some further reading finds that Cooper could not use the spacecraft clock for timing because it was powered (or not) by the spacecraft electrical system, he used a horizon reference mark on the window to align the vehicle with earth horizon and maneuver to a 34 degree nose down attitude, lined up a vertical mark with pre-determined stars to acquire correct heading and astronaut John Glenn counted him down to retrofire.It seems that rather than mathematical calculations done by Cooper, these were more planned procedures for attitude alignment, using fixed points in space as reference. Because the spacecraft radio was battery powered and may fail at any time, Cooper would use his watch as backup for timing if contact with John Glenn was lost. | |
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