One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
28 October 2022
One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
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Launch of the historic first one-day and last solo flight of the US space program: Faith 7 mated to the Atlas rocket, Gordon Cooper preparing for his 22-orbit ride through space, liftoff (three photos), NASA [Mercury Atlas 9], May 1963

printed 1963
vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper 10 h × 8 w in (25 × 20 cm)
estimate: $1,200–1,800
result: $250
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Numbered to verso of the two gelatin silver prints '63-MA9-33' with NASA HQ caption and 'NASA S-63-6335' with NASA MSC caption. Watermarks to verso of remaining photo 'EKC'.

note: Media visuals referencing the original NASA photograph(s) not included.
literature: LIFE, 24 May 1963, pg. 28 illustrates variation of one photo

print

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.            

View of the Atlas 130D launch vehicle in the service gantry at Pad 14 with the Faith 7 spacecraft mated to the launch booster for the MA-9 Earth orbital mission. Gordon Cooper’s Faith 7 mission was the first one-day mission and the last solo flight of the US space program.

NASA technicians assist Gordon Cooper as he checks out the prototype spacecraft net couch during weight and balance test in the White Room at Hangar S at Cape Canaveral. During the high g loads on the astronaut at lift off and reentry the couch will support his body, a perfect fit is very important, in particular for the helmet, which consists of a resinous impregnated fiberglass hard shell; an individually molded crushable impact liner; a ventilation exhaust outlet; a visor sealing system; and a communication system.

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. 

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