Rocket Motor, Solid Fuel, Mercury Retro, also Designated TE-316
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Object Details
- Manufacturer
- Thiokol Chemical Corporation
- Summary
- This is a Project Mercury retro rocket that decelerated or slowed down the one-person Mercury spacecraft in its orbit for reentry into Earth's atmosphere prior to recovery. An assembly of three of the solid-fuel motors was fitted onto the heat shield of the spacecraft. Any two of the motors could provide a safe reentry.
- Each rocket produced about 1,000 pounds of thrust for ten seconds. The retro rockets were fired with five second delays between each one in order to gradually decrease the spacecraft's velocity sufficient for reentry. This motor was donated to the Smithsonian in 1973 by the Thiokol Chemical Corp.
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Inventory Number
- A19731457000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- PROPULSION-Rocket Engines
- Materials
- Ferrous Alloy (Steel)
- Non-Magnetic Metals
- Possible Phenolic Resin
- Uncharacterized Textile (and Possible Rubber Coating)
- Paints
- Rubber
- Plastic
- Paper
- Ink
- Adhesive Tape
- Dimensions
- 3-D (Tank): 30.5 × 29.2 × 39.4cm (1 ft. × 11 1/2 in. × 1 ft. 3 1/2 in.)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19731457000
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Not determined
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv9a0915c6e-8412-4f3f-b9b4-5234df8ec7f2
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