have survived the flight. The MA4 mission had successfully achieved all its flight objectives. It had demonstrated the ability of the Atlas LV-3B rocket to lift the Mercury capsule into orbit and of the capsule and its systems to operate completely autonomously, and it had succeeded in obtaining pictures of the Earth. Nonetheless, to be on the safe side and test out a few more design changes, NASA still planned for one more unmanned test before committing the Mercury-Atlas combo to a manned flight. See also Splashdown References Project Mercury Spacecraft launched in 1961 Spacecraft which reentered in 1961 Spacecraft launched by Atlas rockets