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Mercury-Redstone BD - Space launch mission detailed information

MISSION NAME

Mercury-Redstone BD

Status

Success

DATE

24 MAR 1961

LAUNCH PROVIDER

National Aeronautics and Space Administration + -img

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Launch Pad

Launch Complex 5

USA

Description

Mercury-Redstone BD was an uncrewed booster development flight in the U.S. Mercury program. It was launched on March 24, 1961 from Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission used a boilerplate Mercury spacecraft and Redstone MRLV-5.

Redstone MRLV

Redstone MRLV

USA

Rocket Description

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space. The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit. A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the U.S. Army's Redstone ballistic missile and the first stage of the related Jupiter-C launch vehicle; but to human-rate it, the structure and systems were modified to improve safety and reliability.

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