Space pioneer Gordon Cooper performing the last solo and first one-day mission of the US space program on board Faith 7, May 1963

Three vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, printed 1963, two of them numbered "NASA S-63-6248" and "NASA S-63-7854" in black in top margin, with NASA captions on verso (NASA MSC), each 20,3 x 25,4 cm, 2 prints with light crease in the upper left corner, (3)

Gordon Cooper’s Faith 7 mission was the high point of Project Mercury and the first one-day mission along with the last solo flight of the US space program.

First photograph: Gordon Cooper is smiling in his silver pressure spacesuit next to a NASA technician during preparations for the Faith 7 mission.

Second photograph: Mercury Atlas 9 was launched from Cape Canaveral’s Pad 14 on May 15, 1963, at 8:04 a.m. (EST) with a perigee of 161 km and an apogee of 267 km. This last Mercury mission was successful. Total time weightless was 34 hours, 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Faith 7 completed 22 orbits to evaluate effects of one day in space.

Third photograph:
[NASA caption] CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. - Photographers gather around as Cooper emerges from "Faith 7" on the deck of the prime recovery carrier Kearsarge after his 22-orbit flight, The crowd cheering Cooper's arrival included also the 1,600 man crew of the ship.