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Faith 7
| Mission Number: MA-9 | 15-16 May 1963 |
Crew:
Backup:
Alan
B. Shepard, Jr.
Launch:
Pad: LC 14
Date: 15 May 1963
Time: 13:04:13 UTC
Flight:
Orbits: 22.5
Duration: 1 day, 10 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds
Distance: 546,167 statute miles
Velocity: 17,547 mph
Landing:
Location: Pacific Ocean, 115 miles ESE Midway Island
Vessel: USS
Kearsarge (CVS-33)
Date: 16 May 1963
Time: 23:24:02 UTC
The longest and last
of the Mercury missions. By the end of his 34 hours in orbit, nearly every onboard system
had failed. Cooper performed a manual reentry.
Launch vehicle was an Atlas rocket.
(Credit: NASA, click to enlarge)
MA-9 splashdown in the Pacific.
The MA-9 capsule is
currently at the
Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.