Space: An Epilogue to Ineptitude

With a pinpoint, mid-Pacific landing by Major Leroy Gordon Cooper, a roar of triumph and a burst of national pride, the Mercury phase of the U.S.’s man-in-space program ended last May. Last week it seemed apparent that, save for sheer luck and pluck, Project Mercury might just as readily have ended in disaster. In a 444-page epilogue to Mercury, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told a hair-raising tale of failures, ineptitude and just plain carelessness among the private contractors who built and equipped the space capsules.

The contractors, NASA reported, delivered capsules with more than 500 defects, and spare parts that were more than 50% defective. On Mercury’s six manned flights, there was an average of ten equipment malfunctions—any one of which might have resulted in fatal failures. Only emergency backup systems and the skill of the astronauts in manual control saved the missions.

NASA also blamed private industry for crucial delays in the $384 million Mercury program. As originally scheduled, the first American astronaut would have blasted into orbit as early as April of 1960, nearly a year before the Soviet Union’s first manned flight. Instead, John Glenn’s three-orbit trip was delayed 22 months. In that interval, said the report, “time and money were expended in Mercury to rectify cases where improper materials were found in the systems because someone had failed to follow the approved materials list.” NASA singled out no particular companies from the total of twelve prime contractors, 75 major subcontractors and some 7,200 suppliers involved in Mercury. In a report appendix it listed prime contractors as Aerospace Corp., Chrysler Corp., General Dynamics/Astronautics, General Electric Co., Burroughs Corp., B. F. Goodrich Co., McDonnell Aircraft Corp., North American Aviation, Inc., Pan American World Airways, Inc., Philco Corp., Thiokol Chemical Corp. and Western Electric Co.

Among the specific indictments in NASA’s harsh report:

>In an early unmanned flight, motion pictures showed a weightless clutter of washers, wire cuttings, bolts and alligator clips floating inside the capsule.

> During inspections before Glenn’s flight, it was discovered that electrical connectors had been improperly soldered in the escape towers of both Glenn’s capsule and his backup capsule, leaving the escape devices useless.

> During preparations for Walter M. Schirra’s mission, 14 storage batteries were rejected because of leakage.

>During the Schirra flight, the cooling system in the capsule was “partially blocked by solidified lubricant,” making it difficult for the astronaut to adjust his pressure suit to proper temperature.

> Because “technicians generally were not aware of the strict cleanliness required,” oxygen and water for the astronauts at times were contaminated.

>On the Cooper flight, the control cords holding the retrorocket package to the capsule failed to fall free as intended because the explosive separating devices “were not loaded with the appropriate charge.”

> Also on the Cooper flight, a capsule system designed to remove moisture and perspiration became clogged with metal shavings from a pump shaft.

>In Cooper’s backup capsule, inspectors found a total of 720 equipment “discrepancies,” 526 of them “directly attributed to a lack of satisfactory quality of workmanship.”