Mercury-Atlas 9

Mercury-Atlas 9
	L. Gordon Cooper, photographed by a slow-scan television camera aboard Faith 7
Mission type	Test flight
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1963-015A
SATCAT no.	576
Mission duration	34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds
Distance travelled	878,971 kilometers (474,606 nautical miles)
Orbits completed	22
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Mercury No.20
Manufacturer	McDonnell Aircraft
Launch mass	1,360 kilograms (3,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size	1
Members	L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.;
Callsign	Faith 7
Start of mission
Launch date	May 15, 1963, 13:04:13 UTC
Rocket	Atlas LV-3B 130-D
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-14
End of mission
Recovered by	USS Kearsarge
Landing date	May 16, 1963, 23:24:02 UTC
Landing site	South-east of Midway Island, Pacific Ocean
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	163 kilometers (88 nautical miles)
Apogee altitude	265 kilometers (143 nautical miles)
Inclination	32.5 degrees
Period	88.77 minutes
Epoch	May 15, 1963
	; Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, Jr. Project Mercury; Crewed missions ← Mercury-Atlas 8

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named Faith 7, completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper, then a United States Air Force major. The Atlas rocket was No. 130-D, and the Mercury spacecraft was No. 20. As of January 2024, this mission marks the last time an American was launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission.

^ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.

[satcat-1] McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.

[1]