|
Author
|
Topic: MA-6 Friendship 7 hatch too hot to touch
|
dtemple
Member Posts: 772
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
|
posted 08-01-2023 07:40 PM
   
I just read something I don't recall previously reading. According to the book, "The First Small Step" (part of a five-volume set), when John Glenn began to open the spacecraft hatch after splashdown, he found the upper section too hot to touch, so he used the release plunger to fire the explosive bolts. Has anyone read this anywhere else? I have not ever read anything (that I recall) about any Mercury astronaut finding the hatch of their spacecraft too hot to touch after splashdown. Could the explosive bolts have fired from the heat of reentry if the angle of the spacecraft was slightly off? |
Captain Apollo
Member Posts: 349
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2004
|
posted 08-02-2023 08:29 AM
Glenn fired explosive bolts? I didn't know that. EDIT - I see he did it when on the deck of the USS Noa. |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1968
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted 08-02-2023 09:19 AM
It would be interesting to understand how the pressure suit gloves on his hand failed to block the heat transfer. It would have had to be pretty hot to feel through those gloves.I think he left the hatch in place until aboard the ship because of what happened to Grissom. All the rest, except for Carpenter, waited until they were aboard the carrier as well. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1226
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 08-02-2023 01:58 PM
Are we certain that Glenn was still wearing his gloves after splashdown?Since his knuckles were cut by the rebound of the hatch blowing switch, I assumed that he had removed his gloves. Otherwise his right-hand glove would have been damaged. Also, none of the reports that I read indicated any sailors engaged in lashing Friendship 7 to the USS Noa reported excessive heat. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 772
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
|
posted 08-02-2023 07:43 PM
There are some errors in the book in which I read about the hatch, so the statement about the upper hatch being too hot to touch could be a mistake. |
NukeGuy
Member Posts: 108
From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014
|
posted 08-02-2023 09:14 PM
This report, Flight Test Aerodynamic Heating Data for the Afterbody of the Project Mercury Spacecraft, provides the temperature history of exterior skin mounted thermocouples on the Mercury spacecraft during reentry. You'd have to select which thermocouple would best represent the hatch area and make some assumptions about the thermal conductivity of the hatch and how much cooling might have taken place since parachute deployment and splashdown. If I had more time, this is something I would geek out on! Hope it helps! |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 121
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
|
posted 08-03-2023 12:13 AM
I think the quote in Petersen's "The First Small Step"... Aboard the destroyer, Glenn discovers that the upper hatch of the spacecraft is too hot to open ...is a misquote or incorrect interpretation from "This New Ocean: A History Of Project Mecury" pp 433; Once Friendship 7 was lowered to the mattress pallet, Glenn began removing paneling, intending to leave the capsule through the upper hatch. But it was too hot, and the operation was too slow for the already long day. So, he told the ship's crew to stand clear, carefully removed the hatch detonator, and hit the plunger with the back of his hand. It does not mean the hatch was too hot, just that it had become uncomfortably hot in the capsule, and he blew the side hatch instead.Glenn stated in his "Pilot Report"; There was no doubt when the heat pulse occurred during reentry, but it takes time for the heat to soak into the spacecraft and heat the air. I did not feel particularly hot until we were getting down to about 75,000 to 80,000 feet. From there on down I was uncomfortably warm, and by the time the main parachute was out I was perspiring profusely. ... I lay quietly in the spacecraft trying to keep as cool as possible. The temperature inside the spacecraft did not seem to diminish. This, combined with the high humidity of the air being drawn into the spacecraft kept me uncomfortably warm and perspiring heavily. ... I had initially planned egress out through the top, but by this time I had been perspiring heavily for nearly 45 minutes. I decided to come out the side hatch instead. |
dtemple
Member Posts: 772
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
|
posted 08-05-2023 03:00 PM
That explains what I read in the book. It was a misunderstanding and the error was perpetuated. Thanks! |
advertisement