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Colour lithographic map 27x89cm, folding into 5 sections. Very good, neatly folded, lightly tanned with some foxing to the verso, some light rippling, and rubbing at the folds. This was prepared by ACIC on a scale of 1/52M at the Equator to show the NASA Mercury Atlas 9 Mission's 22 planned Earth orbits, with overlapping longitudinal coverage (0-360 degrees), and latitudinal coverage (between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south). Circular plots represent ground communication coverage areas for command sites, mission control sites, and sites with radar only. It also marks the primary and planned retro-sequence initiation points, and primary (Go-No Go) and planned landing areas. Project Mercury's final flight launched from Cape Canaveral on 15 May 1963 was piloted by Gordon Cooper, one of the Original 7 astronauts, in Faith 7. Cooper's time in space exceeded all previous Mercury missions combined, during which time he performed 11 experiments to monitor radiation, track a strobe beacon, observe zodiacal lights, photograph the Earth, and make the first TV transmission from a US crewed craft. Although it was planned for Cooper would sleep up to 8 hours, this was intermittent. Things ran smoothly until the 19th orbit when a sensor incorrectly indicated reentry had started, and in the 21st orbit the automatic stabilisation and control system short circuited. When CO2 levels rose in the cabin and in his suit, Cooper reported that ?Things are beginning to stack up a little.? His manual reentry was nevertheless perfect, splashing down 80 miles off Midway Island in the Pacific, 4 miles from the recovery ship USS Kearsarge, having spent 34 hours and 20 minutes in space. Project Mercury's lessons fed into Project Gemini, which developed the techniques needed to achieve a lunar landing by two-person crews (Ref. NASA, "Fifty-five Years Ago, Faith 7 Closes Out Project Mercury"). Seller Inventory # 4424
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