Apr 042009
A mid-1958 concept for a one-man space capsule for the “Military Man In Space” effort. This was intended to be a somewhat more “operational” spacecraft than the wholly experimental Mercury capsule. Orbital vehicle weight: 2367 pounds. The capsule was shaped much like the “Dicoverer” re-entry capsules.
3 Responses to “Lockheed CL-414: Mercury capsule predecessor”
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From the drawings, it uses a four nozzle solid as a upper stage; some sort of Polaris or Minuteman upper stage derived unit?
…Apparently they weren’t going with the ablative heat shield method with this one, and were leaning towards ballistic heat resistance as with nukes of the time.
(Hi Pat! Kiss! Kiss!)
…Let me rephrase that: they were going with a different ablative approach, not the flat end down but more the nose down…except that the conical is all reversed, so to speak.