Status
Suborbital
Failure
Rocket
Mission Details
Mercury-Atlas 1
Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9.1 km) and 11,000 feet (3.4 km) down range. All telemetry signals suddenly ceased as the vehicle was passing through Max Q. Because the day was rainy and overcast, the booster was out of sight from 26 seconds after launch, and it was impossible to see what happened.
Payloads: 1
Suborbital
Location
LC-14, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA
Stats
Atlas LV-3B
2nd mission
1st mission of 1960
1st failed mission