Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1)

Launch Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

13:13:00

Friday July 29, 1960

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

Launch Notes

Excessive aerodynamic bending of the Mercury adapter interface results in Atlas structural failure T+58 seconds. First attempted launch of a Mercury capsule.

Mercury-Atlas 1

Wiki

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.

Suborbital

1 Payload

Rocket

Retired
Atlas-D Mercury

Active 1959 to 1963

National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo

Agency

NASA

Rocket

Height: 28.7m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 1,360 kg

Liftoff Thrust

1,880 Kilonewtons

Stages

2

Launch Site

LC-14

Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

Fastest Turnaround

14 days 23 hours

Stats

Atlas LV-3B


2nd

Mission

1st

Mission of 1960