Read Online Highways Into Space: A first-hand account of the beginnings of the human space program by Glynn S. Lunney - Free Book Online
Authors: Glynn S. Lunney
Tags: General Non-Fiction
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the problem of creating a safe-flight-protection concept workable in the real world of tracking, computing and the control center lead to an early assignment for me, which was a terrific learning experience. It was the need to understand the workings of the range safety function at the Cape. It was a similar discipline to the one we were beginning to invent but it was aimed at protecting the safety of people and facilities on the ground. Our focus was aimed at protecting the safety and return of the spacecraft and crew.
One of my early trips to the Cape was in November 1960. At that time, we were trying to launch the first Mercury Redstone flight, MR-1. It was my assignment to observe the range safety officer in order to get a better understanding of what that position did to protect facilities and people from a wayward launch vehicle. I remember being impressed at how cool Captain Davis, the range safety officer, was. This was my first real countdown. My stomach was turning over at maximum RPM and yet he was so calm. When we had a hold in the countdown, he invited me to join him for breakfast. Captain Davis did a great job with the platter of eggs, bacon and all the trimmings. I was not able to do any more than a cup of coffee.
Range safety operations were a critical and important function. In a sense, it was similar to the job that we were beginning to invent for the flight dynamics officer. The RSO ensured that the vehicle would not deviate from its nominal path beyond a set of destruct limits designed to protect the people and the facilities on the ground. In those days, reliability of the launch vehicles was low enough that they had an average failure rate of about fifty percent. The RSO was often called on to destroy the launch vehicle before it did any damage. He had a number of systems that were used to aid him in that task. The first was a system of radars that displayed present position and projected impact location on plot boards in the range safety control room. There were also visual observers, located at strategic positions, who watched the launch vehicle through a template to detect deviations from the nominal path.
With this kind of information, the RSO could make a decision that the vehicle was approaching a destruct limit line. The RSO could then send the destruct command that would initiate the firing of a set of shaped charges usually running lengthwise along the tank or outer structure of the launch vehicle. These destruct systems were quite effective in splitting the stage open and spilling the propellants until the whole vehicle turned into a fireball. His action to destruct the vehicle was designed to protect property and people and, in a similar fashion, I was working on the problem of defining the limits of trajectory deviations that could imperil the safety of the astronauts.
The spacecraft had different abort modes, consider them escape routes for the crew, and our efforts turned towards assuring that those escape routes were not compromised by any trajectory deviation, hence some of our eventual limit lines. We also tried to control the location of the landing in case of a launch abort. Late in the launch phase, there was also some limited ability to vary the time of retro fire and control the landing point of the spacecraft to a designated recovery area in the Atlantic. Observing the RSO operation and knowing how often he had to take destruct action certainly underlined the importance and urgency of our efforts to develop a sound approach for limit lines that would protect the crew.
Eventually, the Mercury-Redstone countdown picked up and continued towards T-0. My stomach did not get any better. The countdown clock finally arrived at T-0 and there was considerable smoke on the launch pad. However, as the smoke cleared, it became clear that the Redstone rocket was still sitting on the pad and parachutes were being deployed from the Mercury spacecraft. This put the whole situation in a really
One of my early trips to the Cape was in November 1960. At that time, we were trying to launch the first Mercury Redstone flight, MR-1. It was my assignment to observe the range safety officer in order to get a better understanding of what that position did to protect facilities and people from a wayward launch vehicle. I remember being impressed at how cool Captain Davis, the range safety officer, was. This was my first real countdown. My stomach was turning over at maximum RPM and yet he was so calm. When we had a hold in the countdown, he invited me to join him for breakfast. Captain Davis did a great job with the platter of eggs, bacon and all the trimmings. I was not able to do any more than a cup of coffee.
Range safety operations were a critical and important function. In a sense, it was similar to the job that we were beginning to invent for the flight dynamics officer. The RSO ensured that the vehicle would not deviate from its nominal path beyond a set of destruct limits designed to protect the people and the facilities on the ground. In those days, reliability of the launch vehicles was low enough that they had an average failure rate of about fifty percent. The RSO was often called on to destroy the launch vehicle before it did any damage. He had a number of systems that were used to aid him in that task. The first was a system of radars that displayed present position and projected impact location on plot boards in the range safety control room. There were also visual observers, located at strategic positions, who watched the launch vehicle through a template to detect deviations from the nominal path.
With this kind of information, the RSO could make a decision that the vehicle was approaching a destruct limit line. The RSO could then send the destruct command that would initiate the firing of a set of shaped charges usually running lengthwise along the tank or outer structure of the launch vehicle. These destruct systems were quite effective in splitting the stage open and spilling the propellants until the whole vehicle turned into a fireball. His action to destruct the vehicle was designed to protect property and people and, in a similar fashion, I was working on the problem of defining the limits of trajectory deviations that could imperil the safety of the astronauts.
The spacecraft had different abort modes, consider them escape routes for the crew, and our efforts turned towards assuring that those escape routes were not compromised by any trajectory deviation, hence some of our eventual limit lines. We also tried to control the location of the landing in case of a launch abort. Late in the launch phase, there was also some limited ability to vary the time of retro fire and control the landing point of the spacecraft to a designated recovery area in the Atlantic. Observing the RSO operation and knowing how often he had to take destruct action certainly underlined the importance and urgency of our efforts to develop a sound approach for limit lines that would protect the crew.
Eventually, the Mercury-Redstone countdown picked up and continued towards T-0. My stomach did not get any better. The countdown clock finally arrived at T-0 and there was considerable smoke on the launch pad. However, as the smoke cleared, it became clear that the Redstone rocket was still sitting on the pad and parachutes were being deployed from the Mercury spacecraft. This put the whole situation in a really
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