Faith 7

Colin Burgess’s first book, “The Diggers of Colditz” was published simultaneously in the U.K. and Australia in 1985. His next few books were on the Australian prisoner-of –war experience and then he turned his efforts to writing about his principal interest: human space exploration. Colin has written a number of books on the subject for the University of Nebraska Press and Springer-Praxis. The books he has written or co-authored for Springer-Praxis are “NASA’s Scientist-Astronauts,” “Animals in Space,” “The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team,” “Selecting the Mercury Seven,” “Moon Bound,” “Freedom 7,” “Liberty Bell 7,” “Friendship 7,” “Aurora 7,” and “Sigma 7”. Colin also wrote “Interkosmos” (2016) with co-author Bert Vis, and a history of NASA’s Group 5 and 7 astronauts with co-author David J. Shayler. In addition, he is the series editor and sometimes author for the Outward Odyssey series of books on the social history of space exploration for the University of Nebraska Press.

"It is a reliable chronicle of Gordon Cooper's 34-hour, 22-orbit mission in May 1963, which stretched the endurance of the cramped Mercury capsule almost as far as it could go. ... I can recommend this book as a reliable reference work and a readable narrative." (Michael J. Neufeld, Quest, Vol. 24 (1), 2017)

• Foreword by Alfred Worden (CMP Apollo 15).- Acknowledgements.- Author Prologue.- Chapter 1: An astronaut from Oklahoma.- Chapter 2: The final Mercury mission.- Chapter 3: One reckless act.- Chapter 4: A day in space with Faith 7.- Chapter 5: “A victory for the human spirit”.- Chapter 6: The end of the Mercury era.- Chapter 7: From Gemini to Apollo.- Chapter 8: “The greatest pilot you ever saw”.- Appendices.- Index.