Spacelog Mercury 7

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

I feel the lift-off. The clock has started.

Roger. [Cape Canaveral]

Loud and clear, Gus.

Roger, Aurora seven, stand by for—the time hack.

Roger.

Little bit of shaking, pretty smooth.

3, 2, 1, mark.

Roger, the backup clock has started.

Roger, Aurora Seven.

Clear blue sky; 32 seconds; 9,000 [feet], fuel and oxygen steady; cabin pressure 15.1 [psia]; and dropping. A little rough through max q, and 1 minute.

Roger. You're looking good from here.

Okay, 25 amps and the power is good.

Roger. You're looking good.

Mark, 1 minute. Cabin pressure is on schedule; fuel and oxygen are steady, 24 amps; all the power is good.

Roger. Pitch is 56 [degrees]. You look—

Roger. My pitch looks good, it's smoothing down a little bit now. I feel the pitch program starting over.

Roger.

The sky is getting quite black at 01 30—-elapsed. Fuel and oxygen is steady, cabin pressure is leveling off at 6.2 [psia], 22 amps and the power is still good, one cps sway in yaw.

Roger. Understand. Pitch is 37 [degree]. You look real good.

Stand by.

Roger. There is BECO on time, and—

Ah, Roger. Understand BECO.

Roger, I felt staging. Do you confirm?

Staging?

Do you confirm staging?

Aurora Seven, we confirm staging.

Roger, g peaked at 6.3.

The tower is way out. It's gone. The light is green. Going over the BECO check now.

Roger, Aurora Seven.

BECO check is complete

Roger. Understand complete. Is that correct?

That is. Roger.

At 3 minutes. Fuel and oxygen are still steady; cabin is holding 5.8 [psia]. Power still looks good; my status is good.

Roger. Pitch minus, minus 2 1/2 [degrees], and you're right on; you're good.

Roger. Reading you loud and clear, Gus.

Aurora Seven, . . ., you are good.

Roger. Still reading you. Broken a little bit. At 30, my status is good. Fuel and oxygen are steady. Cabin is holding 5.8 [psia]; Cabin is holding 5.8 [psia]. Power is good, 25 amps.

Roger.

Four minutes. Aurora Seven is Go. Fuel and oxygen steady; cabin holding, 25 amps; power is good.

Roger, Aurora Seven. Pitch minus 3 1/2 [degrees]. You're good.

Roger, Reading you on Bermuda antennas now, much louder.

Roger.

Okay, turnaround has stopped. I'm pitching down. I have the moon in the center of the window, and the booster off to the right slightly.

Roger. Understand.

Fly-by-wire is good in all axes; my pitch attitude is high; coming down now.

Roger. Understand.

Roger. The control system on fly-by-wire is very good. I have the booster in the center of the window now, tumbling very slowly.

Roger, Aurora Seven. Understand. You sound real good.

It's very quiet.

A steady stream of gas, white gas, out of the sustainer engine. Going to ASCS now.

Roger. Understand.

ASCS seems to be holding very well. I have a small island just below me.

Aurora Seven, standby for retrosequence times.

Standing by.

Area 1 B is 17 17.

17 17 Roger.

Roger, standby for later times. That's all I have right now.

Roger, Sequence time for end of orbit.

Send your message.

Aurora Seven, retrosequence time for end of orbit—28 26.

01 28 26, Roger.

End of mission, 04 32 39.

04 32 39, Roger.

Negative 04 3, 04 32 39.

Roger, Understand, 04 32 39.

Roger.

Roger, I have copied.

ASCS looks good, all fly-by-wire thrusters appear to be good in all axes. Going to—beginning to unstow the equipment.

Aurora Seven.

Roger, and the SECO checklist is complete. She peaked at 6.3[g's].

Cap Com. Over.

Go ahead, Gus. Loud and clear. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cap Com.

Roger, loud and clear. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. Over.

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. Over.

Loud and clear, Gus. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. If you read, retro delay to normal?

Retro delay normal. Roger.

. . . igee 86 [nautical miles].

Roger. Copied perigee 86 [nautical miles]. Did not get apogee.

Mark. One picture of the booster. Going to transmit and record now. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . . 10, 11, 12 pictures of the booster, traveling right down the center of the booster, right down the center of the window.

Going over the insertion checklist now. D-c volts is main. Retromanual fuse switch is off. Retromanual is off. All instruments are. All batteries okay. The a-c power is good. The, let's see, where's the booster? There's some beautiful cloud patterns down there. The booster is in front of a large cloud pattern. I seem to be, I seem to be much closer to the earth than I expected to be. The booster is approximately 2 miles away now.

I have some pictures of the booster, maybe 17 or 18, all together. Then going to the horizon, north sweeping south. There is the moon, just setting. Winding the camera at this time.

There are some rather large pieces floating around. The flight plan is now out. Gyros are going to free at 12 33, and I'm going to fly-by-wire to track the booster. I will—this is not a good tracking problem. Our speeds are too close to being the same. I will put it in the center of the right window, plus. I have it right in the center—I feel that—overshot there. Getting ahead of me in pitch.

The high thrusters work well, close tracking should be done on—on fly-by-wire low only. To follow the booster is a tough job with the highs. Gyros are staying within limits pretty well. Elapsed time is 13 56. I have lost sight of the booster at this time. I'll pick up a retroattitude at this time for Canary radar. Large piece of—

Going back to gyros free, or to gyros normal.

Aurora Seven. This is Canary Cap Com. How do you read? Over.

Hello, Canary Cap Com. Aurora Seven. Reading you loud and clear. How me?