Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

198
First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
pressure area as described 8 in the southeastern part of the United States.
As I think I mentioned over RF, Cape Hatteras was obliterated by cloud
cover. The cloud cover of 3 to 4 tenths, low scattered on the east coast of
Florida, was most apparent. The west coast of Florida and the Gulf were
clear. I could see Lake Okeechobee. As I described, I could see the shoals
in the vicinity of Bimini. I could see Andros Island. The Bahama Islands,
Grand Bahama Island itself, and Abaco [page A19-21] were confusing
because there was cloud cover there, just enough to confuse my view. I
think if I had a little bit more time with a periscope here, though, I would
have been able to definitely distinguish these islands, but the cloud cover
was confusing to me at that point. I noticed also that I apparently had in
a slow pitch rate because I noticed that I wasn’t controlling the manual
pitch too much at this point. I think I was paying too much attention
looking out at the awe-inspiring sight in the periscope.
20. “The countdown to retrosequence helped me. It helped me come
back to the next sequence which was to occur. The next sequence of
course was retro. The onboard timer started retro essentially on schedule;
the retrosequence and retroattitude lights came green, as expected. I
went manually to retroattitude, and I wasn’t quite as happy with the pitch
control here as I was with yaw and roll. Somehow I got a little bit behind
with my pitch control, and I got down fairly close to 20 to 25 degrees
rather than staying up around the 34 degrees. Of course, as we all know,
the index of this particular capsule is at 45 degrees, but I don’t think this
added to the confusion; however, I think the confusion was my own here.
Okay, with respect to retrofiring – there is no question about it, when
those retros go, your transition from zero g of weightlessness to essentially
5g is noticeable. You notice the noise of the retros and you notice the
torque 9 of the retros. I think I did a fairly good job of controlling the
retros outside of the pitch deviation which I mentioned, and I thought
that I was able certainly to control them within reasonable tolerance.
21. “At the end of retros, the plan was to go to fly-by-wire, which I did. I
switched to fly-by-wire, pulled manual, and then, at this point, the plan
was to go to yaw and then roll fly-by-wire, but I noticed I was a little lower
in pitch than I wanted to be at the end of retrofire itself, so I started back
on the pitch – then , at this point, it was either a yaw or roll maneuver that
I made, I’m not sure which one. I think it’s probably yaw because that is
the one I was supposed to make first – a fly-by-wire yaw maneuver – and1,
about the time the retros were to have jettisoned, I heard the noise and
saw a little bit of the debris. I saw one of the retropack retaining straps.
I checked and there was no light at that time. Deke 10 called up and said
he confirmed retrojettison, and about this time I hit the manual override
and the light came on. This, as I recall, is the only item sequence-wise in
the capsule that did not perform properly. I did not do the specific roll
8. In preflight weather briefing
9. Misalignment Torques.
10. Astronaut Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, Capsule Communicator in the Mercury Control Center.