Suborbital flight with the objective of testing the Mercury spacecraft ablative heat shield. The Atlas booster section failed to jettison, leading to a lower apogee. It was nonetheless sufficient to satisfy the Mercury spacecraft team. September 9, 1959 at 08:19 UTC · Launch was a Partial Failure Atlas LV-3B — National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to Suborbital Space Launch Complex 14, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Program: Mercury Data: Launch Library 2, The Space Devs. Image via The Space Devs.