MERCURY-ATLAS 3 - Failure (1961/04/25) - better sources, updated video

Mercury-Atlas 3 (MA-3) is destroyed by the Range Safety Officer 43 seconds after liftoff, because it failed to pitch and roll to the proper heading. The Mercury capsule contained a robotic "mechanical astronaut".

The launch proceeded normally until about T+20 seconds when the pitch and roll sequence failed to initiate and the vehicle continued flying straight upward.

The escape tower activated the moment the destruct command was sent and separated the Mercury capsule safely.

The capsule flew to an apogee of 7.2 km and a downrange of 1.8 km.
The flight of the Mercury capsule lasted 7 minutes and 19 seconds, most of that time descending on its parachute. The spacecraft was then recovered and reused on the Mercury-Atlas 4.

Includes some footage from SDASM:    • HACL 03536 Astronaut's AS-IS Mercury ...  

Audio was recreated from other similar launches.
Editing, noise and dust cleanup and audio recreation by Retro Space HD.

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