Clarabella 7

Clarabella 7 was the United States Space Administration space capsule flown by Colonel Hartigan, USAF. Like its ill-fated pilot, the capsule is still aboard Mothership Zeta in its research lab.

Behind the scenes
The capsule is visually identical to the Project Mercury capsules, including a hatch and window for the pilot and a retro-rocket unit attached to the heat shield with steel straps. However, real world Mercury capsules were painted black while the Clarabella 7 was painted grey. Additionally, the capsule is missing its conical top radio section, which in a real Mercury flight would have been jettisoned following the de-orbit phase after the retro-rocket unit had jettisoned.

Real-life Mercury capsules allowed the pilot two forms of egress - one by using the explosively-activated trapezoidal side hatch, and the other through the cylindrical recovery section directly fore of the cabin. Given that the side hatch is still in place, this would seemingly indicate that Colonel Hartigan left the capsule through the recovery section, something backed up by the absence of the top radio section.

Gallery
Clarabella 7 Clarabella 7 Кларабелла 7