The Mercury spacecraft consists of a conical pressure section topped by a cylindrical recovery-system section.
During flight, the Mercury spacecraft was equipped with three 454-kilogram (1000-pound) thrust solid-propellant retro-rockets mounted in a package on the heat shield. After the three rockets were fired to slow the spacecraft, the retro-rocket package was jettisoned.
Prime contractor for Friendship 7 was McDonnell Aircraft Company.
Friendship 7 is from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Gemini 4
11. Gemini 4 lifts off, June 3, 1965.
12. Well over 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) later, Gemini 4 is hoisted from the Atlantic Ocean.