Mercury-Atlas 7

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

Low Earth Orbit Space Launch Complex 14 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Mercury-Atlas 7 was the fourth crewed spaceflight for the United States. The spacecraft, named Aurora 7, carried the astronaut Scott Carpenter to orbit where it completed three orbits before returning to Earth. The mission lasted for 4 hours, 56 minutes & 5 seconds. Due to a targeting error during reentry the spacecraft splashed about 400 km off-course delaying the recovery efforts.

Atlas LV-3B

Family:
Configuration: LV-3B

The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by American aircraft manufacturing company Convair, it was derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile, and was a member of the Atlas family of rockets.

Specifications
  • Stages
    1
  • Length
    28.7 m
  • Diameter
    3.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    4.9 m
  • Launch Mass
    120.0 T
  • Thrust
    1300.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Atlas LV-3B
  • Family
  • Variant
    LV-3B
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Atlas LV-3B
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1360.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Mercury No.18


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 1 Crew Capacity: 1
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: 18

Mercury No.18 is the Mercury capsule used for the Mercury-Atlas 7 - callsign "Aurora 7" - mission launched on May 24, 1962 and piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter.

Mercury Details

Crew


Scott Carpenter

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: May 1, 1925
Date of Death: Oct. 10, 2013

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Jared Isaacman Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

INFO WIKI

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 14


Kuaizhou 11
Success
17 hours, 21 minutes ago
8 satellites
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Ride-share launch of 8 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.


Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 8 hours ago
Yaogan 50-02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 50-02 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 8 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-48
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 6 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-31
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2D
Success
3 days, 23 hours ago
Shiyan 30 03-04
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of Chinese satellites reported to be for "Earth observation technological testing and validation" purposes. Actual usage not known.


Long March 8A
Success
4 days, 1 hour ago
SatNet LEO Group 20
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Firefly Alpha
Success
4 days, 20 hours ago
Stairway to Seven
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Firefly Alpha's Flight 7 is a test flight and return-To-Flight for the launch vehicle after its April 2025 launch failure. It will test and validate …


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 17 hours ago
EchoStar 25
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

EchoStar 25 is a direct broadcast satellite, built on the proven Maxar 1300 series platform, which will deliver content across North America. It will…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 17-18
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Insight At Speed Is A Friend Indeed (BlackSky Gen-3 4)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Note: Payload and customer identities were not publicly announced. 4th of the BlackSky Gen-3 high resolution Earth-imaging satellites.