Mercury-Atlas 8 - Re-entry and Recovery

Re-entry and Recovery

As the spacecraft continued towards re-entry after the de-orbit burn, Schirra used the high-power thrusters to put the capsule in the correct orientation, noting that the attitude control felt "sloppy". He then enabled the rate stabilization control system, an automatic control method which used up fuel at a very high rate, to maintain control during re-entry; this was a specific engineering request, and it dismayed Schirra to see the fuel he had husbanded for six orbits be used so quickly.

The local recovery group in the prime target area, in the central Pacific, consisted of an aircraft carrier, the USS Kearsarge, in the centre of the landing area, with three destroyers strung out along the orbital path. Four search aircraft were also assigned to the area, and three recovery helicopters were based aboard the Kearsarge.

The Kearsarge picked up the capsule on radar while still 200 miles (320 km) from landing; 90 miles (140 km) further up the landing path, the destroyer USS Renshaw reported a sonic boom as it passed overhead. At 40,000 feet (12,000 m), Schirra deployed the drogue parachute, and then the main parachute at 15,000 feet (4,600 m). The landing was surprisingly precise, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from the target point and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the Kearsarge, and Schirra joked that he was on course for the recovery carrier's "number three elevator". The capsule hit the water, sank and bobbed to the surface again, righting itself after about 30 seconds. Three pararescue swimmers were dropped by one of the helicopters to help him climb out, but Schirra radioed that he would prefer to be towed to the carrier, and a whaleboat from the Kearsarge was sent with a line.

Forty minutes after landing, Sigma 7 was hoisted aboard the Kearsarge; five minutes later, Schirra blew the explosive hatch and climbed out to a waiting crowd. After doing this, examinations showed clear bruising on his hand from operating the heavy ejector switch, which he felt provided an important vindication for fellow pilot Gus Grissom's hatch expulsion accident during the Liberty Bell 7 mission. Grissom had maintained that the hatch blew without his input; the fact that he had no bruising was seen as evidence that he had not blown the hatch early and sunk his capsule, but that it was a mechanical malfunction. Schirra remained aboard for three days of medical tests and debriefing before disembarking, while the spacecraft was offloaded at Midway Island and transferred to an aircraft for further transport. It was returned to Cape Canaveral for analysis, with the long-term intention of putting it on permanent display.

The spent Atlas booster re-entered the atmosphere on October 4, the day after the launch, and burned up. After display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and Johnson Space Center, the capsule is currently displayed at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, Titusville, Florida.