Gordon Cooper
American astronaut (1927-2004) · United States · On the map · Astronauts · Died at 77
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. 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.
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Photos 11
USAF Experimental Flight Test School Class 56D, April 1957. Front row: Captains Gordon Cooper, James Wood, Jack Mayo, and Gus Grissom.
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 on display at Space Center Houston
Cooper began the tradition of NASA mission insignia with this design for Gemini 5.
Cooper's wife Trudy watches the launch of Gemini 5 with their teenage daughters, Cam and Jan
Pete Conrad (left) and Cooper on deck of recovery carrier USS Lake Champlain after Gemini 5 missionAwards
About this person
Cooper learned to fly as a child, and after service in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, he was commissioned into the United States Air Force in 1949. After serving as a fighter pilot, he qualified as a test pilot in 1956 and was selected as an astronaut in 1959.
