Rare set of four early hand-drawn timeline charts for the uncrewed test flights of Mercury-Redstone 1 and Mercury-Redstone 1A, each accomplished in graphite and colored pencil by McDonnell engineer and launch pad leader Guenter Wendt on sheets of graphing paper approximately measuring 16.5 x 11, with each sheet signed and dated in the upper right, “G. F. Wendt.” The four sheets, which are headed “MR-I First Mate,” “MR-I Second Mate,” “MR-I Third Mate,” and “MR-IA First & Final Mate,” are all dated to the last quarter of 1960: September 26 – October 12; October 31 – November 9; November 17 – 23; and December 8 – 19. These detailed timeline charts include blocks dedicated to “Schedule Test Activities,” “Test Support Activities,” “Holds,” “Trouble Shooting,” Repairs & Dr. Work,” and “Secure Capsule.” In overall fine, folded condition. An uncommon set of documents that offer a visual breakdown of the measures taken to launch Project Mercury.
The November 21, 1960, launch of the MR-1, the first Mercury-Redstone uncrewed flight test in Project Mercury, and the first attempt to launch a Mercury spacecraft with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, proved unremarkable. Immediately after the Mercury-Redstone rocket started to move, it shut itself down and settled back on the pad, after which the capsule jettisoned its escape rocket and deployed its recovery parachutes. The failure has been referred to as the ‘four-inch flight,’ for the approximate distance traveled by the launch vehicle. The launch of the Mercury-Redstone 1A (MR-1A) on December 19, 1960, was much more successful, reaching an altitude of 130 miles and a range of 235 miles before Atlantic splashdown.
Ex. the H. H. ‘Luge’ Luetjen document archive.
