Chapter 18: The chimp flight

Theme: July to October 1962. Preparation and flight of Wally Schirra in Sigma 7. An almost perfect mission which demonstrated the improving effectiveness of the spacecraft systems but left the operations group unchallenged.

Scott’s flight in Aurora 7 had given the ground control center its greatest fright. The delay in detecting the auto pilot problem which led to a last minute decision to control attitude manually during retro fire, and the exhaustion of the control fuel prior to the end of the flight, led to a review of all mission flight procedures. More frequent checks of the control systems were ordered for the next flight and larger reserves of fuel set aside for the retrofire and reentry. In addition, it was decided that the pilot was being overburdened and that his schedule of activities during the flight should be reduced. Therefore the flight plan was cleared of almost all of the scientific activities, and very little was scheduled other than checks of the spacecraft systems.

Wally’s flight was a particularly smooth one. Everyone in the control center and around the range appeared relaxed and confident. Only one small problem was encountered. The cabin temperature began to rise, but after careful adjustment, finally leveled off. The auto pilot behaved beautifully through the flight, several changes having been made to improve the system since John and Scott’s flights. In all, it was a triumph for the automatic control systems which performed efficiently -- so efficiently that the mission could be characterized as a “chimp flight” -- one in which the man was almost unneeded.

It was for that very reason, however, that many of us felt that this flight did not really test the capability of our operations group. The project management and the flight controllers, whose primary concern was flight safety, were happiest with an uneventful flight. Yet the real mark of operational capability is the ability to overcome malfunctions, and to take care of emergencies.

Nevertheless, two important results were achieved by this flight. First, management was encouraged to schedule a one-day mission, providing the first really significant manned space flight mission which the U.S. has achieved. And second, the control center at Cape Canaveral and the world-wide network procedures were modified in ways which were to be critically tested in Gordon Cooper’s flight in Faith 7.