Mercury Atlas 9 (designated also Faith 7) was the fourth and final manned orbital flight of the United States' first manned spacecraft program. Its pilot, L. Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, Jr., made a record-setting 34 hour, 19 minute and 49 second, 22-orbit flight that also saw him become the first person to sleep while in space.

Mercury's ablative heatshield provided protection during reentry. Built of honeycombed aluminum with many layers of glass-fiber material, the heat shield would boil away as the capsule descended through the atmosphere.

The attached segment of Mercury 9 heatshield was turned black from the intense frictional heat of reentry.