Biography of Astronaut Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, Jr.

According to NASA's biographical data sheet Gordon Cooper began his military career in the Marine Corps in 1945 and received an Army commission after completing a few years of schooling at the University of Hawaii. In 1949 this commission was transferred to the Air Force. In 1956 he graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology with a degree in aeronautical engineering. Following graduation he journeyed to the Air Force Experimental Flight School located at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Gordon remained at Edwards working as a test pilot for experimental planes until he was selected to be an astronaut by NASA in April, 1959.

As one of America's first astronauts Cooper was now faced with the daunting challenge of riding a missile filled with explosive fuel into the reaches of space which at the time had never been done before. Being an astronaut in the Mercury program helped pave the way for NASA to put a man on the moon.

As each of his fellow astronauts got their chance to command a Mercury mission Gordon Cooper filled other rules in the program patiently waiting for his turn. He was CAPCOM for John Glenn's historic mission aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft and for Astronaut Scott Carpenter's flight aboard the Aurora 7 spacecraft.

On May 15, 1963 aboard the spacecraft Faith 7 Astronaut Gordon Cooper became the sixth American in space. NASA reports he spent just over 34 hours orbiting the Earth a total of 22 times. Cooper also holds the title as the last human to fly into space alone.

During Cooper's mission the spacecraft lost power. Astronaut Gordon Cooper took manual control of the spacecraft and using his wrist watch and the stars in the sky he successfully returned Faith 7 safely back to Earth with one of the most on target landings of any Mercury mission. Although the Mercury spacecraft is designed to be controlled entirely by mission control on the ground astronauts early on had insisted that they be allowed to pilot the spacecraft in an emergency.

As the Mercury program came to an end the Gemini program was taking form. Astronaut Gordon Cooper would become the command pilot aboard Gemini 5 with astronaut Charles Conrad. August 21, 1965 astronauts Cooper and Conrad were launched into space to test human endurance capabilities. The two astronauts spent 8 days in space orbiting the Earth 120 times.

Upon successful completion of the Gemini 5 mission, Astronaut Gordon Cooper set the record for total amount of time spent in space equaling 225 hours between his Mercury and Gemini 5 missions. Cooper was also the first man to complete two orbital missions.

Those who collect mission patches from the space program can thank astronaut Cooper for insisting that Gemini 5 had its own mission patch. Until then the only patches worn by astronauts were the NASA patch and their name tag. Today patches are available for pre-Gemini 5 missions but they were designed afterwards to commemorate the flights.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper retired from NASA and the USAF as a Colonel in 1970.

Death: October 4, 2004

Sources:

NASA, "Biographical Data - Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr.", Johnson Space Center.