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Countdown to launch

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Freedom 7

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Abstract

At 12:30 a.m. on 2 May 1961 the countdown for MR-3 began, but the prospects of a launch were never very good. In spite of being late spring, violent thunderstorms had rumbled over the Cape that evening; it was raining heavily and occasional lightning flashes danced up and down the Florida coastline. Lining the beaches were people determined to see the launch, shivering under raincoats and ponchos, praying for the filthy weather to clear. The loading of liquid oxygen into the Redstone went ahead, but as the minutes ticked by the odds against flying steadily increased.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bonnet Bay, New South Wales, Australia

    Colin Burgess

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  1. Colin Burgess
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Burgess, C. (2014). Countdown to launch. In: Freedom 7. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01156-1_4

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