Gordon Cooper

Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human space program of the United States.

Gordon Cooper
File:Gordon Cooper 2.jpg
Born	Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. (1927-03-06)March 6, 1927 Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	October 4, 2004(2004-10-04) (aged 77) Ventura, California, U.S.
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	University of Hawaii University of Maryland Air Force Institute of Technology, B.S. 1956
Occupation	Test pilot
Awards	Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross (2) NASA Distinguished Service Medal NASA Exceptional Service Medal
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Rank	Colonel, USAF
Time in space	9d 09h 14m
Selection	1959 NASA Group 1
Missions	Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5
Mission insignia	46px File:Gemini-5-logo.png
Retirement	July 31, 1970

Cooper died at age 77 from heart failure at his home in Ventura, California, on October 4, 2004.

Gordon Cooper Media

• USAF Experimental Flight Test School Class 56D.jpg

  USAF Experimental Flight Test School Class 56D. Front row: Captains Gordon Cooper, James Wood, Jack Mayo and Gus Grissom.

• Mercury Suit Gordon Cooper.jpg

  Cooper in his Mercury spacesuit, the Navy Mark IV

• 

  Mercury-Atlas 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 on May 15, 1963

• Faith 7 capsule in Space Center Houston.jpg

  Faith 7 on display at Space Center Houston

• Gemini5insignia.png

  Cooper began the tradition of NASA mission insignia with this design for Gemini 5.

• Astronaut Charles Conrad Jr. tweaks astronaut L. Gordon Cooper's eight-day growth of beard for the cameramen.jpg

  Pete Conrad (left) and Cooper on deck of recovery carrier USS Lake Champlain after Gemini 5 mission

• 

  Apollo 10 backup crew (left to right) Cooper, Edgar Mitchell, and Donn Eisele during water egress training in April 1969.