Mercury-Atlas 9

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

Low Earth Orbit Space Launch Complex 14 Cape Canaveral, 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: Atlas
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 T
  • Thrust
    1300 kN
Family
  • Name
    Atlas LV-3B
  • Family
    Atlas
  • Variant
    LV-3B
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Atlas LV-3B
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1360 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 - American - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

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

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 115 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type: Government

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.

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