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THBGordon Cooper’s Mercury-Atlas 9 Notebook - Over 20 Pages of Handwritten Notes and Sketches for the Faith 7 Capsule
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About Auction
LiveApr 25, 2024
Featuring nearly 400 items, RR's Spring Space Exploration auction is filled with flown material, astronaut autographs, Apollo hardware, and other space rarities. RR Auction support@rrauction.com
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- Lot Description
Gordon Cooper’s ring-bound notebook that he used extensively prior to the launch of the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission. The notebook, 8.5 x 11, which bears Cooper’s ink ownership signature to the front cover, “Leroy G. Cooper, Jr., NASA MSC, Houston, Texas,” contains a total of 23 pages of handwritten ‘reminder’ notes in pencil related to the Faith 7 capsule, also known as Mercury spacecraft No. 20, operations procedures, the space suit, life system items, and various MSC meetings dated between January 10 and April 18, 1963. Included with the notebook is a loose hand-drawn chart sheet, 8 x 10.5, which contains six name options for Cooper’s capsule. In addition to Faith 7, other names include Omnis 7, Beacon 7, Victory 7, X7, and Light 7. Cooper has added preliminary sketches for Omnis 7 and Faith 7, as well as notes for the latter design: “Confidence = team. Belief in God, country, program. Religion represents the most international beliefs that cross all bounds of language, country, politics.”
Highlighted sections of the notebook include:
- List of 21 “Problem Items in Capsule 20,” which includes “1. Replace press relief valve locking handle - Done,” “2. Window cover is needed / may be able to use extra star charts & Velcro when wanting to cover for sleep,” “4. Relocate line to survival kit (Ck w Wally on this),” “5. Urine Device - O.K.,” and “13. T.V. Location - on top of AUX coolant tank (or eliminate).”
- List of 13 “Items to Install in Cap 20,” which includes “1. Small ditty bag for rt console,” “4. T.V. Camera,” “5. Movie Camera,” “6. Hasselblad if pushed into IR photos,” “9. Installation of flite plan or star charts on left side of main panel by brackets or Velcro,” and “10. Get gold plated quarter embedded in plastic and have inscription on it “To the proprietor of Pad 14, Guenter Wendt, for the fare for ‘the ride of my life,’ Gordo Cooper.”
- List of “Items for Suit,” which includes a “urine device,” “injectors,” and a “cockpit knife.” In the section marked “Rt pocket of suit,” Cooper adds a list of “Personal Items,” which contains: “Spanish doubloon,” “Trudy’s Mercury pin,” “Don Wilford’s tie pin,” “Old Masonic coin,” “American flags (5),” and a group of 17 “Faith 7 charms” for the wives of the Mercury astronauts and several others, with Cooper adding a small “Faith 7” star symbol sketch that reads “About size of a dime.” Cooper also makes notes for requested “Medical Data,” “Drugs to Go,” and “Items to Push For.”
Among the concluding briefing notes are several detailed sketches by Cooper for a redesigned “Urine Storage & Transfer System,” which maps out the “Urine bag inside pressure suit inlet area,” “Fitting through suit (locks & unlocks by turning) snap-in fitting,” “60cc syringe,” and “needle fitting.” The design was approved on April 4th, with Cooper writing: “‘Final’ decision by me & agreed to by Russ Klickman, Dave Morris, and Arch Morse.” Also included with the notebook are numerous loose handwritten note sheets from Cooper, which relate to a “Meeting @ Cape, 23 Jan 63,” two landing “Proceedures” [sic] note sheets, two “SEDR Participation” note sheets, and an “Items to Do” list. Additional typed memorandum letters are also included. In overall fine condition. - Shipping Info
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