VOSTOK

MERCURY

Instrument board and control panel from Vostok spacecraft,

from Specialized Experimental Design Bureau of Spacecraft Technology of the Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Equipment (SOKB KT NIIAO) and Its Role in Russian Cosmonautics by S.A. Borodin, A.F. Yeremin, S.T. Marchenko, and Yu.A. Tiapchenko.

The Vostok has 4 switches and 35 indicators, while the Mercury has 56 switches and 76 indicators.

Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr., checks over the instrument panel from Mercury Spacecraft #20 with Robert Graham, McDonnell Aircraft Corp. spacecraft  engineer. It contains the instruments necessary to monitor spacecraft systems  and sequencing, the controls required to initiate primary sequences manually, and flight control displays.

Date Taken: 02/01/63       NASA Photo ID: S63-03960

Mercury spacecraft interior arrangement, from

James M. Grimwood, "Project Mercury: A Chronology," NASA, SP-4001 1963, figure 15

Three-axis hand controller on Vostok spacecraft,

from Yurii Tiapchenko, "Forty Years of Manned Flights"

The yaw control and the roll control are rearranged as compared to regular aircraft or to Mercury spacecraft

Three-axis hand controller on Mercury spacecraft, from

James M. Grimwood, "Project Mercury: A Chronology," NASA, SP-4001 1963, figure 26