Editing Gordon Cooper (section)

===Mercury-Atlas 9===
{{Main|Mercury-Atlas 9}}
[[File:Cooper - GPN-2000-000997.jpg|thumb|[[Mercury-Atlas 9]] lifts off from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14]] on May&nbsp;15, 1963]]
Cooper was designated for the next mission, [[Mercury-Atlas 9]] ({{nowr|MA-9}}). Apart from the grounded Slayton, he was the only one of the Mercury Seven who had not yet flown in space.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|pp=121–122}}{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=336}} Cooper's selection was publicly announced on November&nbsp;14, 1962, with Shepard designated as his backup.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=122}}

Project Mercury had begun with a goal of ultimately flying an 18-orbit, {{nowr|27-hour}} mission, known as the manned one-day mission.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=486–487}} On November&nbsp;9, senior staff at the [[Manned Spacecraft Center]] decided to fly a {{nowr|22-orbit}} mission as {{nowr|MA-9}}. Project Mercury still remained years behind the Soviet Union's space program, which had already flown a {{nowr|64-orbit}} mission in [[Vostok 3|Vostok&nbsp;3]]. When Atlas {{nowr|130-D}}, the booster designated for {{nowr|MA-9}}, first emerged from the factory in San Diego on January&nbsp;30, 1963, it failed to pass inspection and was returned to the factory.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=489–490}} For Schirra's {{nowr|MA-8}}&nbsp;mission, 20&nbsp;modifications had been made to the Mercury spacecraft; for Cooper's {{nowr|MA-9}}, 183&nbsp;changes were made.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=489–490}}{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=127}} Cooper decided to name his spacecraft, Mercury Spacecraft No.&nbsp;20, ''[[Faith 7]]''. NASA public affairs officers could see the newspaper headlines if the spacecraft were lost at sea: "NASA loses Faith".{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=492}}

After an argument with NASA Deputy Administrator [[Walter C. Williams]] over last-minute changes to his [[pressure suit]] to insert a new medical probe, Cooper was nearly replaced by Shepard.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}} This was followed by Cooper [[wikt:buzz#Verb|buzzing]] Hangar&nbsp;S at [[Cape Canaveral]] in an {{nowr|[[F-102]]}} and lighting the [[afterburner]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}} Williams told Slayton he was prepared to replace Cooper with Shepard. They decided not to, but not to let Cooper know immediately. Instead, Slayton told Cooper that Williams was looking to ground whomever buzzed Hangar&nbsp;S.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=129}} According to Cooper, Slayton later told him that President [[John F. Kennedy]] had intervened to prevent his removal.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}}

Cooper was launched into space on May 15, 1963, aboard the ''Faith&nbsp;7'' spacecraft, for what turned out to be the last of the Project Mercury missions. Because {{nowr|MA-9}} would orbit over nearly every part of Earth from 33&nbsp;degrees north to 33&nbsp;degrees south,{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=489}} a total of 28&nbsp;ships, 171&nbsp;aircraft, and 18,000&nbsp;servicemen were assigned to support the mission.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=489}} He orbited the Earth 22&nbsp;times and logged more time in space than all five previous Mercury astronauts combined: 34&nbsp;hours, 19&nbsp;minutes, and 49&nbsp;seconds. Cooper achieved an altitude of {{convert|165.9|mi|km|0}} at [[Apsis|apogee]]. He was the first American astronaut to sleep, not only in orbit,<ref name=40thmerc7 />{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=497}} but on the [[launch pad]] during a countdown.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=496}}

[[File:MA-9 Faith 7 Space Center Houston, Houston, TX.JPG|thumb|''[[Faith 7]]'' is currently on display at [[Space Center Houston]]]]
There were several mission-threatening technical problems toward the end of ''Faith 7''{{'}}s flight. During the 19th&nbsp;orbit, the capsule had a power failure. Carbon dioxide levels began rising, both in Cooper's suit and in the cabin, and the cabin temperature climbed to over {{convert|130|F|lk=on}}. The clock and then the [[gyroscope]]s failed, but the radio, which was connected directly to the battery, remained working, and allowed Cooper to communicate with the mission controllers.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=52–53}} Like all Mercury flights, {{nowr|MA-9}} was designed for fully automatic control, a controversial engineering decision which reduced the role of an astronaut to that of a passenger, and prompted [[Chuck Yeager]] to describe Mercury astronauts as "Spam in a can".{{sfn|Wolfe|1979|p=78}} "This flight would put an end to all that nonsense," Cooper later wrote. "My electronics were shot and a {{em|pilot}} had the stick."{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=57}}

Turning to his understanding of star patterns, Cooper took manual control of the tiny capsule and successfully estimated the correct [[Flight dynamics|pitch]] for [[Atmospheric entry|re-entry]] into the atmosphere.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=56–57}} Precision was needed in the calculation; small errors in timing or orientation could produce large errors in the landing point. Cooper drew lines on the capsule window to help him check his orientation before firing the re-entry rockets. "So I used my wrist watch for time," he later recalled, "my eyeballs out the window for {{as written|[[Attitude dynamics and control|attitude]]}}. Then I fired my retrorockets at the right time and landed right by the carrier."<ref name="UFO">{{cite news |work=Space.com |url=http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/gordon_ufos_000728.html |title=Gordon Cooper Touts New Book Leap of Faith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727041953/http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/gordon_ufos_000728.html |archive-date=July 27, 2010 |date=July 30, 2000 |access-date=January 20, 2008 |last1=David |first1=Leonard}}</ref>

''Faith 7'' [[splashed down]] {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in}} ahead of the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier {{USS|Kearsarge|CV-33|6}}. ''Faith&nbsp;7'' was hoisted on board by a helicopter with Cooper still inside. Once on deck he used the explosive bolts to blow open the hatch. Postflight inspections and analyses studied the causes and nature of the electrical problems that had plagued the final hours of the flight, but no fault was found with the performance of the pilot.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=501}}

On May 22, New York City gave Cooper a [[Ticker tape parade|ticker-tape parade]] witnessed by more than four million spectators. The parade concluded with a congratulatory luncheon at the [[Waldorf Astoria New York|Waldorf-Astoria]] attended by 1,900 people, where dignitaries such as Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and former president [[Herbert Hoover]] made speeches honoring Cooper.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hailey|first=Foster|title=City Roars Big 'Well Done' to Cooper|date=May 23, 1963|work=The New York Times|pages=1, 26}}</ref>