Mercury-Atlas 9

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

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

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final manned spaceflight of the United States' Mercury program. It carried the Faith 7 spacecraft with astronaut Gordon Cooper to orbit where it completed 22 orbits seconds before reentry. The mission lasted for, 34 hours, 19 minutes & 49 seconds. This was the last time an American was launched to space on a solo orbital mission. The mission had several technical problems, the biggest which was a short-circuit in the bus bar serving the 250 volt main inverter causing the automatic stabilization and control system to stop working during the 21st orbit. In the end Cooper had to use lines he had drawn on the window and his wristwatch to correctly execute burns to safely re-enter the atmosphere.

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.20


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 1 Crew Capacity: 1
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: 20

Mercury No.20 is the Mercury capsule used for the Mercury-Atlas 9 - callsign "Faith 7" - mission launched on May 15, 1963 and piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper.

Mercury Details

Crew


Gordon Cooper

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: March 6, 1927
Date of Death: Oct. 4, 2004

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Jared Isaacman Founded: 1958 Successes: 122 Failures: 20 Pending: 5

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


Electron
Success
20 hours, 40 minutes ago
The Grain Goddess Provides (iQPS Launch 7)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 22 hours ago
BlueBird 11-13 (Block 2 #6-8)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Smart Dragon 3
Success
2 days, 3 hours ago
OSE HS-01 & 02
Haiyang offshore launch location - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

2 hyper-spectral Earth observation satellites from Chinese company STAR.VISION. Both satellites are built in corporation with foreign customers: *…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 12 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-53
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 8A
Success
2 days, 21 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 23
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.…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 2 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-52
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
NROL-95
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 6A
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
TJSW-27A & B
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Chinese classified satellites claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Long March 7A
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Tianlian 3-01
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL-3 (Tian Lian 3) satellites are the 3rd generation…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Starlink Group 17-51
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.