Astronaut Gordon Cooper (above) was launched into space on May 15,
1963 aboard the Mercury-Atlas  (Faith 7) spacecraft. After 22 Earth orbits,
34 hours, 19 minutes and 49 seconds, traveling 546,167 miles, Cooper
logged more time in space than all five previous Mercury astronaut’s
combined. His return to Earth brought Project Mercury to a close.

Gordon Cooper preparing  to enter the Faith 7 capsule for his mission.

The Mercury Atlas 9 rocket leaving the launch pad.

Skylab One, the first U.S. manned space station, was launched into orbit around Earth by a Saturn V booster rocket (shown below).

Liftoff of the Saturn V rocket with Skylab One aboard.

Alan  Shepard, Jr. was a naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA
Astronaut who in 1961 became the first American in space with a 15
minute suborbital flight. Ten years later, he commanded the Apollo 14
mission, and became the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

Malcolm Scott Carpenter is best known as one of the original seven
astronauts selected for NASA’s Project Mercury in April of 1959. He was 
the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth in space, following 
Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn. Carpenter and Glenn are 
are the last living members of the Mercury Seven astronauts. 

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the U.S. Apollo space program
and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was successfully launched
toward the Moon on Saturday, April 11, 1970, but the landing had to be aborted
two days later on the 13th after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft’s electrical system. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovel
(above right) with John ‘Jack’ Swigert (center) as Command Module pilot and
Fred W. Haise (left) as Lunar Module pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for 
the original CM pilot Ken Mattingly, who was grounded by the flight surgeon
after exposure to German Measles. To conserve its batteries and the oxygen
needed for the last hours of flight, the crew instead used the Lunar Module’s
resources during the return trip to Earth. Despite great hardship caused by
limited power,loss of cabin heat, shortage of suitable water and the critical
need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely
to Earth on Friday, April 17. NASA called the mission a "successful failure”.

View of the severely damaged Service Module after separation

Apollo 13 Splashdown

Apollo 13 crew arrive on the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Iwo Jima after a
successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Ken Mattingly