#sigma 7

"In preparation for the Mercury Atlas 8 flight of NASA Astronaut Walter Schirra, the spacecraft is moved into the altitude chamber inside Hangar S. The altitude chamber allows engineers and technicians to ensure the capsule will not leak in space, and helps verify that the environmental control system and with other equipment all work as designed."

Date: September 10, 1962

16. Sigma 7 (Mercury-Atlas 8)

Date: October 3, 1962 (9 hours, 13 minutes, 15 seconds)

Crew: Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, Jr.

Mission Highlights: The fifth flight of the Mercury program, Sigma 7, launched at 7:15 am on October 3rd. Shortly after launch, CAPCOM Deke Slayton asked Wally Schirra, “Are you a turtle today?” Wally, true pilot and gentleman that he was, switched from broadcast radio to on-board recording to answer, “You bet your sweet ass I am!”

Sigma 7, unlike its predecessor Aurora 7, focused heavily on technical tests rather than scientific experiments. At over 9 hours and six orbits, it was the longest manned U.S. spaceflight to date. The flight successfully avoided major issues, only suffering from small technical difficulties (including booster and temperature control problems). Wally’s post-flight medical analysis determined that long-term spaceflight (by 1962 standards) had little to no physical effect on the human body, opening the U.S. to the potential for longer flights.

Following reentry, Sigma 7 landed in the Pacific Ocean, less than half a mile from the USS Kearsarge. After spacecraft and astronaut were recovered by the ship, Wally purposely detonated the explosive hatch. The force of hitting the plunger left a bruise on his hand, proving that Gus Grissom had not blown the hatch on his Liberty Bell 7 flight, as Gus did not have injuries from the switch.

Significance: The flight of Sigma 7 came less than a month after President John F. Kennedy’s speech at Rice University, at which he declared, “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

Shortly after his flight, Wally also gave a speech at Rice University; however, Sigma 7 was largely overshadowed by the Cuban Missile Crisis a few days later.

Aerial view of the Mercury-Atlas 8 (MA-8) Sigma 7 capsule being lowered to the deck of USS KEARSARGE (CV-33).

Date: October 3, 1962

“Wally took particular delight in later years showing people a photo of the Group Two astronauts watching his launch. He’d ask you to look very closely, then point out that fellow astronaut Pete Conrad had his fingers crossed for good luck. He’d always give a huge, bellowing laugh when people spotted this.”