Khrushchev sarcastically said: America's first manned space flight attempt was just a "flea jump"

As mentioned in the last document, the Americans launched the Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket, which resulted in a series of failures, resulting in the wrong launch angle and too fast reentry speed. Ham, the orangutan sitting in the spaceship, suffered much more overload than originally planned. Fortunately, this guy is really strong, he actually resisted and returned to the surface of the earth unscathed.

Although the orangutan didn't have an accident, the chief designer Braun was very dissatisfied with the flight. He thinks there are too many problems. Must be completely improved, and then test the unmanned spacecraft. Sheppard, the astronauts don't agree because they are all in a hurry. In fact, Braun was in a hurry. The Americans didn't start well, and at least half of the rockets had problems. However, haste makes waste. How can you take people to heaven without solving bugs?

Therefore, Braun temporarily inserted the Mercury-Redstone research and development task. This time it was very successful, and the bug was almost solved. As a result, there was news that Gagarin circled the earth in the east at this time. Sheppard hit the table with his fist, and almost broke it. Braun's pressure came up. Work overtime to launch America's first manned rocket at an early date. Redstone rockets are not so powerful that they can't send people into space orbit, but it's no problem to play suborbital flight.

Braun took the team and began to prepare in a hurry. Not only Braun's technical team is under great pressure, but also American political circles, especially President Kennedy. Kennedy had just taken office for 8 1 day when he faced aggressive pressure from the Soviet Union. The backyard of the United States and Latin America are not calm.

Cuba's Castro uprising overthrew Batista's regime and Castro became Cuba's prime minister. In the past, there was a coup in Latin America and the government was overthrown. The CIA often engages in subversive activities in Central America and supports the opposition to overthrow the local government. Left-wing ideas are very popular in Latin America. These so-called revolutionaries usually shout the leftist slogan "Taiwan Province", but what they do is no different from their overthrown predecessors. America is not so worried. These revolutionaries usually come from middle-class families and have a good life. How can they get together with those poor people at the bottom? That's unlikely. However, the CIA sometimes ignores this, and this time it stumbled.

Castro 1959 uprising was successful and he visited the United States soon. The then president was Eisenhower. He didn't take this Castro seriously at all, and he didn't even meet him. He asked Vice President Nixon to come forward and send Castro away. Of course, Castro's relationship with the United States is not good. He made a big trip to Canada, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. After returning to Cuba, land reform began, land owned by foreigners was confiscated and sugar companies were nationalized. Americans were shocked. How can you be serious? Castro's policy initiatives are all aimed at Americans.

1960 The meeting of the General Assembly was the time when Khrushchev knocked on the table with his leather shoes. When Castro first met Khrushchev, they hit it off. Cuba began to approach the Soviet bloc, but it has not completely fallen out with the United States.

The CIA began to cooperate with some Central American countries to support the Cuban opposition to engage in guerrillas. Only five days after the launch of the Orient spacecraft, President Kennedy ordered the start of the Bay of Pigs landing operation. A group of Cuban exiles trained by the CIA began to carry guns and return to their hometown. Sitting on an American ship, he tried to counterattack Cuba, but Castro's men attacked him head-on. These people thought they were Depth Charge, and the US Marine Corps would support them in the future. I didn't expect Kennedy to ban marines from participating. As a result, these Cuban exiles had no backup and were taken to Jiaozi by Castro's troops. Since then, Castro has fallen to the Soviet Union.

Castro exchanged a lot of medicines and baby food with the Americans by taking these prisoners, and the United States gave them all in despair. This was equivalent to war reparations, and Kennedy's face at that time could not be pulled down at all. After only 90 days in office, I stumbled. Everyone thinks that this is a weak president who can't do things well without hair on his mouth.

Shortly after President Kennedy took office, the Bay of Pigs landed badly again, so he was more cautious. I asked Vice President lyndon johnson about the strength of the United States in space, and lyndon johnson told the young president that the United States had not yet begun to exert its strength. The comprehensive national strength of the United States is far above that of the Soviet Union. The future moon landing plan is not only feasible, but will certainly enable the United States to defeat the Soviets in the competition of comprehensive national strength.

Therefore, Kennedy's self-confidence also needs to regain face and establish a tough image. Therefore, he paid special attention to the American space industry. James webb, director of NASA, applied to the President for funds. The research of large engines is inseparable from money. Lockdyne has begun to develop the giant F 1 engine. Kennedy approved the money. But james webb asked for a 30% increase in NASA's budget, and Kennedy hesitated.

NASA should also make achievements. It can't always be defeated by the Soviets, so Braun is also working overtime. In addition, the Soviet rocket mission was secretly prepared. The United States is more open and good at using the media to create momentum, which is the advantage of the United States. The results can't be compared, and the momentum must overwhelm the Soviet army.

Braun and his team have been raiding for three weeks, and finally they can launch. They told the media that the first American to go into space was one of Shepard, john glenn and Gleason. As for who it is, we can only tell the media before the launch. In fact, it has been decided that Shepard is the first, and Glenn and Gleason are substitutes. Project mercury trained seven astronauts, and four of them didn't take part in this first suborbital flight. What should they do?

Three days later, on May 5th, we are ready for the second launch. At 8 o'clock the night before, the countdown began. Sheppard's good sleep is also part of the preparation. At 5 o'clock in the morning, Shepard woke up. Then I wash my face, brush my teeth and have breakfast. I ate steak and eggs and drank some coffee and orange juice. Attention, the bad thing is that you drink too much.

5:/kloc-0: 5 Shepard got into the engine room of the Mercury spacecraft. The person next to him held him. He was wearing a spacesuit, which was inconvenient. Then connect the wires and oxygen. The spacesuit is also connected with oxygen. Shepard is also connected to electrodes to measure his physiological indexes.

The original launch time was 7: 20 in the morning, but at 7: 05 in the morning, a large cloud floated in the sky, and the weather changed, so we had to wait. Don't forget that Shepard has been lying in the spaceship for two hours, and he is also very wronged in the spaceship. This ship is called Freedom 7, and this version has no windows. Sheppard has a periscope in front of him. There are only two eyepieces. You have to put your eyes together to see the scene outside the cabin. The advantage of this thing is that you don't need to open a big window on the spaceship, you only need two small holes. The hatch beside us has been closed, so it is very troublesome to unscrew a bunch of screws when we open it again.

There is something wrong with the launch system, which needs to be repaired. The countdown must be paused. The computer at Goddard Space Center needs to be restarted. This series of troubles consumes time every minute. As a result, something happened to Shepard. He couldn't hold his urine and had to go to the bathroom. But he was sealed in the spaceship and couldn't get out. He was at a loss. He asked the control center if he could excrete it. The spacesuit is sealed. If urine is discharged and flows everywhere, all kinds of electric shocks for measuring physiological indexes will definitely be short-circuited. So the ground control center is determined not to do it. Finally, Shepard proposed to turn off the physiological monitoring system and cut off the power supply. This will not cause a short circuit. Ground control can only agree.

In fact, this is not the fault of the spacecraft designer, because Shepard's flight time is only 16 minutes, such a short time, there is no need to consider the problem of going to the toilet. I don't know. I've been waiting for hours at the transmitter. Sheppard was helpless and excreted in his spacesuit. His posture is like sitting in a chair, but the chair leans back 90 degrees as a whole. In this position, Shepard clearly felt that urine was collected on his back. Fortunately, the spacesuit is connected with an oxygen device, and oxygen blows in to dry the urine slowly, but do you think the smell inside the spacesuit can smell good? I can't help it, just bear it. Who told you to drink so much coffee and orange juice?

Therefore, diapers are a great invention and an out-and-out space technology. Sheppard is useless. It's too early.

Until 9: 34 in the morning, the Redstone rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the Freedom 7 spacecraft. There are 45 million people squatting in front of the TV to watch the rocket launch. President Kennedy is also watching TV in his office, accompanied by his wife, and Vice President lyndon johnson is staring at the TV screen behind him. The top management is very concerned about this matter.

Two minutes and 22 seconds after launch, the speed reached 8262 kilometers per hour, Sheppard's overload reached 6.3g g, and after 10 second, the escape tower was abandoned. In 3 minutes, under the control of the automatic control system, the spacecraft reversed 180 degrees, docked forward and began to prepare for the reentry process. Sheppard just made a suborbital flight and landed in space.

Shepard tried to manipulate the attitude of the spacecraft. Freedom 7 spacecraft can be operated manually, and Shepard must control the reverse rocket manually, which is different from Gagarin. Shepard adjusted the angle of the spacecraft to 34 degrees, which was calculated in advance. The angles of the three axes of the spacecraft can be accurately controlled, similar to Shepard's feeling in the ground simulator.

After adjusting the angle, Shepard began to observe the ground. Clouds and the earth can be clearly seen from the lens of periscope. It is easy to distinguish the terrain on the ground, where is the coastline, where is the lake and where is the island. But it is difficult to determine the city. Periscope is obviously not as convenient to observe as window.

About five and a half minutes after the launch, the spacecraft reached the highest point, and Shepard felt a slight vibration, which was 187 km from the ground. He checked the angle of the spacecraft and found that it was wrong, missing 10 degrees. He quickly adjusted his attitude, then turned on the reverse rocket and began to slow down. There are three thrust rockets, which are ignited in turn. Each rocket is turned on 10 second, with an interval of 5 seconds, so as to reduce the speed of the spacecraft. When it burned out, Shepard gave up these anti-thrust rockets manually. Retract the periscope and prepare to withstand the intense friction of the atmosphere.

As the spacecraft entered the dense atmosphere, it slowed down more and more. Shepard's overload reached 1 1.6g, and the whole person could not move. He switched to the automatic control state in advance and everything was handed over to the autopilot. Now he will land on the sea according to the established procedure. At an altitude of 6.4 kilometers, the guide umbrella is opened, and at an altitude of 3 kilometers, the main umbrella is opened. Freedom 7 crashed into the sea at a 60-degree angle. Shepard thinks that the impact of carrier-based aircraft landing on aircraft carriers is similar. He is a naval pilot and has rich experience. The long-awaited rescue plane is coming soon. This trajectory calculation is very accurate and falls near the scheduled landing site. It is 48km away from Abaco Island/Kloc-0 in Bahamas and 480km away from Cape Canaveral.

The helicopter immediately found the Freedom 7 spacecraft, lowered the rope and lifted it. Shepard opened the hatch cover and came out. The helicopter dropped another rope and hoisted Shepard onto the helicopter first. Then fly to the distant aircraft carrier with the spacecraft. 1 1 min later, the spacecraft was loaded on the Essex-class aircraft carrier lake champlain. Shepard became the first American to go into space.

Kennedy has been watching TV. Seeing that Shepard was salvaged, I called Shepard immediately. "Young man, this trip is great!" Kendini is six years older than Shepard, but he is not too old. It is friendly to call him a boy. Americans think that they are mature in their thirties and can undertake the most complicated tasks, so these astronauts are generally about 10 years older than the first batch of Soviet Union, which makes sense.

The president talked to Sheppard on the phone, and the person next to him kept covering his nose. Sheppard smells wrong. It smells like urine. NASA learned the lesson and asked Goodrich, a spacesuit manufacturer, to design a urine recovery system. Shepard didn't use it this time, and john glenn used it first.

America also has its own space hero. President Kennedy awarded Shepard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Distinguished Service Medal at the White House. The whole TV broadcast must be lively. He also asked Vice President lyndon johnson and his wife to accompany Shepard to the grand parade in Washington, D.C., but the scale was far from that of the Soviet military parade, which was a professional parade.

Then Shepard began to tour major cities in the United States. Anyway, it's a theft. However, the Soviets didn't like it at all, so Khrushchev didn't like it either. He said it was just a "flea jump" and suborbital flight, so you would be ashamed to show it. This gold content is far worse than Gagarin.

If Americans want to find it in the first place, they can find a lot. For example, this is the first time that a manned spacecraft has returned to Earth. Gagarin doesn't count. The direction is automatically controlled. This is the first time. You can always find a lot if you take your time. For example, this is the first time to go into space with shit, which is also worthy of the name. Right? But it's not interesting.

Sheppard's success boosted Kennedy's confidence. Twenty days later, President Kennedy announced his great plan to send a man to the moon before 1970. You know, Americans only completed suborbital flights at that time, and how much NASA needs to pay to achieve this goal in the next nine years, not because it is simple, but because it is difficult. A new round of competition between the United States and the Soviet Union has begun again. How did the Soviets respond? We'll talk about it next time.