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Mercury-Redstone BD

Redstone MRLV

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Launch Status
Success

Mission


Mercury-Redstone BD

  • Type: Test Flight
  • Orbit: Suborbital

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.

Location


Launch Complex 5

Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Launch Complex 5 has witnessed the launch of 13 rockets, including 7 orbital launch attempts, while Cape Canaveral, FL, USA, has been the site for 941 rocket launches.

Launch Complex 5

Rocket


Chrysler Redstone MRLV

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.

Redstone MRLV

Agency


National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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