The main objectives of Mercury Atlas-1's (MA-1) were to recover the capsule and test the integrity of the Mercury capsule structure and afterbody shingles. About one minute after liftoff MA-1 exploded and the remaining debris landed 7 miles off the Florida shore. The debris was collected and engineers attempted to reassemble MA-1 to determine the cause of the explosion.

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Photo credit: © Space collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: &, 1, america, archival, archive, atlas, black, center, explosion, florida, heritage, historical, kennedy, ksc, mercury, monochrome, shingles, space, states, traditional, united, usa, vertical, vintage, white