mercuryatlas8

"Sigma 7" Capsule with Wally Schirra (1962) www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-8/ma-8.htm

Atlas Vehicle Serial No. 113D Vehicle sequence: 147 Atlas Space Version: LV-3B Launch date: 10-3-62 (October 3, 1962) Launch site: ETR 14 (Eastern Test Range Complex No. 14) Payload: Mercury capsule (Sigma 7) Astronaut: Walter Schirra Source: Line 147 of Appendix B in Atlas: The Ultimate Weapon, by Chuck Walker and Joel Powell, 2005, Apogee Books, Ontario, ISBN 1-894959-18-3

That banner is up there to celebrate that the ship in the photo, the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CV-33), was the recovery vessel for two of NASA's Project Mercury 1-man missions. Astronaut Wally Schirra's mission was the MA 8 designation (stands for Mercury-Atlas 8, the 8th Atlas rocket used in both test and manned flights) and his spacecraft "Sigma 7" splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after orbiting the Earth 6 times in early October, 1962. The capsule, with him in it, were hoisted aboard the Kearsarge before he got out. Astronaut Gordon Cooper's mission was MA 9, respectively, and he was picked up by the Kearsarge mid-May the following Spring after completing 22 orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean aboard "Faith 7", which the final mission in the Project Mercury program. Further reading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(CV-33) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Atlas_8 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Atlas_9 ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19630011968... ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19630012071...