53 lata temu, 15.05.1963 o 13:04:13,106 UT z wyrzutni LC-14 na Cape Canaveral RN Atlas D wyniosła załogowy statek kosmiczny
Mercury 9 MA-9/Faith 7 z Gordonem Cooperem na pokładzie.
Dublerem był wtedy Alan Shepard. Był to ostatni lot w programie Mercury, a jednocześnie najdłuższy.
Gordon Cooper był pierwszym Amerykaninem, który spał na orbicie.
Mercury 9 MA-9/Faith 7 osiągnął orbitę o parametrach: hp=163 km, ha=265 km, i=32,50.°, t=88,70 min.
Lot trwał 1d 10h 19m 49s.
Od 1. obiegu kłopoty z klimatyzacją skafandra (konieczność regulacji co 10-15 min. uniemożliwiła spokojny sen i odpoczynek). Kłopoty z przyjmowaniem płynów i pożywienia z powodu nazbyt wysokiego ciśnienia w zbiorniku wody. Obserwacja źródła światła (4,5 kg) oddzielonego od kabiny statku w T+ 3h 25m. Obserwacja powierzchni Ziemi wykazała możliwość obserwacji z orbity gołym okiem takich obiektów jak samochody na autostradzie lub dym z kominów fabrycznych. Na 19. obiegu nastąpiła awaria całej automatyki statku, astronauta przeszedł na tryb ręczny procesu hamowania i stabilizacji, aż do chwili wejścia w gęste warstwy atmosfery. Maksymalne przeciążenie 7,6G.
Wodowanie na Pacyfiku 16.05.1963 o 23:24:02 w rejonie Midway, 6 km od okrętu odbiorczego USS Kearsage. Cooper został wyciągnięty na pokład wraz z kabiną po 36 min. Po puszczeniu kabiny miał zawroty głowy, był blady, stracił na wadze 3,3 kg.
Źródło:
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/loty/m9.htm1963 May 15 - . 13:04 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC14. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas D.
Mercury MA-9 - . Call Sign: Faith 7. Crew: Cooper. Backup Crew: Shepard. Payload: Mercury SC20. Mass: 1,376 kg (3,033 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Cooper, Shepard. Agency: NASA Houston. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spacecraft. Flight: Mercury MA-9. Spacecraft: Mercury. Duration: 1.43 days. Decay Date: 1963-05-16 . USAF Sat Cat: 576 . COSPAR: 1963-015A. Apogee: 265 km (164 mi). Perigee: 163 km (101 mi). Inclination: 32.50 deg. Period: 88.70 min. Final Mercury mission, Faith 7, was piloted by Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, Jr..
http://www.astronautix.com/m/may15.htmlhttp://www.astronautix.com/m/mercuryma-9.htmlFLIGHT OF FAITH 7 - Mercury-Atlas 9 (1963/05/15) - NASA documentary‘How About Now?’ The Faith in Gordon Cooper (Part 1)by Ben Evans 2013
Atop its Atlas-D booster, Faith 7 awaits launch in May 1963. Despite the success of the rocket on previous Mercury missions, a failure of the Atlas’ F-series military variant prompted additional inspections and tests. Photo Credit: NASA(...) Even in the weeks preceding Faith 7, there were persistent stories in the press that Cooper might be pushed aside in favour of his backup, Alan Shepard. So shaky was Walt Williams’ “faith” in Cooper that he approached Shepard, several months earlier, and strongly hinted that he might be tipped to fly instead. Believing the mission to be his, Shepard trained feverishly, but Deke Slayton—removed from his own flight only months earlier—felt that Faith 7 belonged to Cooper. Others agreed that it would look bad for NASA if the astronauts were swapped so soon before launch. A timely intervention by Wally Schira (who threatened to raise the roof if Cooper was overlooked) certainly helped matters, but Walt Williams was convinced that Shepard could do a better job. As partial compensation, Williams half-promised Shepard a three-day Mercury mission … which ultimately never transpired. Shepard later gained his revenge on the operations director, by lending him the keys to his Corvette. As Williams drove away, Shepard phoned the base’s security office to tell them that “someone” had just stolen his car. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2013/05/15/how-about-now-the-faith-in-gordon-cooper/‘The Right Guy’: A Restoration of Faith (Part 2)by Ben Evans 2013
Cooper departs the transfer van to make his way to the launch pad on 15 May 1963. After a one-day delay, caused by technical issues, Faith 7 was finally ready to fly. Photo Credit: NASA(...) Despite a problem with the Atlas’ guidance equipment, which necessitated a brief hold, the countdown marched crisply on this second attempt … so crisply, in fact, that Cooper fell asleep. It took fellow astronaut Wally Schirra several efforts to bellow his name over the communications link to awaken him. Then, with just 19 seconds to go, another halt was called in order to allow launch controllers to ascertain that the rocket’s systems had properly assumed their automatic sequence. Shortly after 8 a.m. on 15 May 1963, America’s sixth man in space thundered off the pad in what Cooper would later describe as “a smooth, but definite push.” Within minutes, Faith 7 was inserted into an orbit so good that its heading was 0.0002 degrees from perfect and its velocity “right on the money” at 28,240 km/h. “Smack-dab in the middle of the plot,” an admiring Schirra told him. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2013/05/16/the-right-guy-a-restoration-of-faith/‘How About Now?’ Remembering Gordon Cooper’s Faith 7 Mission (Part 1)by Ben Evans April 16 2015
(...) “Hi, I’m Gordo Cooper.”
Kranz had not only met his first Mercury astronaut, but perhaps the most controversial Mercury astronaut of them all. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2015/05/16/how-about-now-remembering-gordon-coopers-faith-7-mission-part-1/‘The Right Man’: Remembering Gordon Cooper’s Faith 7 Mission (Part 2)by Ben Evans April 17 2015
(...) Sleeping in space was virtually impossible, so spectacular was the view. As Cooper passed over South America, then Africa, northern India, and into Tibet, the photographic opportunities were priceless. Using the direction of chimney smoke from the Himalayan houses, he was even able to make a few rudimentary estimates about his velocity and the ground winds. Despite the difficulty, he pulled Faith 7’s window shades around 13 hours after launch to catch some sleep. He dozed intermittently, but found himself having to anchor his thumbs into his helmet restraint strap to keep his arms from floating freely. Every so often, he would lift the shade to take photographs or make status reports or curse quietly to himself when his body-heat exchanger crept too high or too low. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2015/05/17/the-right-man-remembering-gordon-coopers-faith-7-mission-part-2/EDIT: 15.05.23
Fifty-five Years Ago, Faith 7 Closes Out Project MercuryMay 18, 2018
Project Mercury was America’s first human space flight program. The Space Task Group at Langley Research Center in Virginia initiated the project in 1958 with three goals: orbiting a human spacecraft, investigating an astronaut’s ability to function in space, and safely recovering both spacecraft and crew.
After some early launch failures, the first successful test of the single-seat spacecraft without an astronaut on board took place in December 1960, launched into a suborbital flight atop a Redstone rocket. A similar flight a month later carried Ham, a chimpanzee. Two crewed 16-minute suborbital flights flew in May and August 1961, with Alan B. Shepard and Virgil I. Grissom aboard, respectively. The first successful uncrewed Mercury orbital flight using the more powerful Atlas rocket launched in September 1961, followed by the orbital flight of Enos, another chimpanzee, in November.
John H. Glenn flew the first human orbital flight in February 1962, followed by M. Scott Carpenter in May and Walter M. Schirra in October. Glenn and Carpenter each orbited the Earth three times, Schirra six.Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper (left) and launch of Mercury 9 (right). Credits: NASAThe final flight of Project Mercury launched May 15, 1963, from Pad 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. L. Gordon Cooper, the pilot of Mercury 9, named his capsule Faith 7. The number 7 recognized his status as one of the Original 7 astronauts. During a flight that was longer than all previous Mercury missions combined, Cooper conducted 11 experiments that included monitoring radiation levels, deploying a strobe beacon to see how well Cooper could track it, observing zodiacal lights, and taking photographs of the Earth. During his 17th orbit, Cooper transmitted slow-scan black and white television images back to the Mercury Control Center (MCC) at Cape Canaveral, the first TV transmission from an American crewed spacecraft. Although plans called for Cooper to sleep as much as eight hours, he slept only intermittently during portions of the flight.
Faith 7 performed well until the 19th orbit, when a faulty sensor erroneously indicated that the spacecraft was starting reentry. Two orbits later, a short circuit knocked out the automatic stabilization and control system. When the carbon dioxide level began to rise in the cabin and in his spacesuit, Cooper reported to MCC in his usual understated manner, “Things are beginning to stack up a little.” Despite these malfunctions, he managed to make a perfect manual reentry concluding a highly successful mission. Faith 7 splashed down about 80 miles southeast of Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean, just four miles from the recovery ship USS Kearsarge. Cooper orbited the Earth 22 times and logged 34 hours and 20 minutes in space, the longest US space flight at that time. Project Mercury gave NASA the confidence to move on to Project Gemini during which the critical techniques required to achieve a lunar landing before the end of the decade were mastered by two-person crews.Flight Operations Director Walter Williams (standing) and Flight Director Christopher Kraft (seated) during the Mercury 9 mission in Mercury Control Center (left).
The Mercury 9 capsule shortly after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean awaiting recovery by the USS Kearsarge (right). Credits: NASAEnjoy Gordon Cooper’s oral history with the JSC History Office.
The Mercury 9 capsule is currently on display at Space Center Houston. A recreation of the MCC is on display inside the Kurt Debus Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.The Mercury 9 spacecraft on display at Space Center Houston (left).
Reconstruction of Mercury Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center (right). Credits: NASALast Updated: May 24, 2018
Editor: Melanie Whiting
Tags: NASA History
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fifty-five-years-ago-faith-7-closes-out-project-mercuryhttp://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/15/otd-may-15-and-faith-7/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-015Ahttps://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1326.htmlhttps://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/capsule-mercury-ma-9/nasm_A19710155000KHW 2021
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=800.msg164925#msg164925KHW 2023
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=800.msg184281#msg184281 https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=800.msg184296#msg184296https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Atlas_9https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Atlas_9https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/1658109997585248256https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/1658110014840553472https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1658264247044898821https://twitter.com/ron_eisele/status/179046775357855757515 May 1963. 13.04.13 UTC/GMT. Launch of Mercury-Atlas 9 from Cape Canaveral LC-14. The final manned space mission of the U.S. Mercury program. Faith 7 completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Piloted by astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper.