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| Astronaut Gordon Cooper dead at 77 |
| 2004-10-05 |
| Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper gone at age 77 BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: October 4, 2004 Astronaut Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, a veteran of NASA's Mercury and Gemini programs that paved the way for the Apollo moon landings, died today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 and his death came 47 years to the day after the space age began with the launch of the Russian Sputnik satellite. Gordon "Gordo" Cooper was one of NASA's original astronauts. Photo: NASA "As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper was one of the faces of America's fledgling space program," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said in a statement. "He truly portrayed the right stuff, and he helped gain the backing and enthusiasm of the American public, so critical for the spirit of exploration. My thoughts and prayers are with Gordon's family during this difficult time." Former U.S. Senator John Glenn said, "Gordo's final launch came as a shock, because the last time Annie and I were with him, his health seemed to have improved. There are thousands of memories from our early space days. Gordo was one of the most straightforward people I have ever known. What you saw was what you got. Pride in doing a great job, whatever his assignment, was his hallmark. You could always depend on Gordo. It's hard to believe that he will no longer be with us in person. I know he'll be with us in spirit. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Suzie and his family." Known as a natural "stick and rudder man," Cooper was the youngest of the Mercury Seven, selected along with Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Scott Carpenter, Gus Grissom and Walter Schirra as America's first set of astronauts. "We seven were bonded like brothers, maybe even closer if that's possible," Walter "Wally" Schirra said today. "Gordon backed me up on my Mercury flight which went very well. In turn, I backed him on his flight, which went equally as well. He now has joined Gemini crewmate, the late Pete Conrad, in orbit." "This is truly the passing of a beloved member of a unique fraternity. We'll all miss him," Scott Carpenter said. Cooper blasted off in his Faith 7 capsule atop an Atlas rocket on May 15, 1963, completing 22 orbits and becoming the first American to sleep in orbit before returning to Earth the next day. "Cooper's efforts and those of his fellow Mercury astronauts, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton, serve as reminders of what drives us to explore," O'Keefe said. "They also remind us that to succeed any vision for exploration needs the support of the American people." Of the original Mercury 7, Grissom was killed in an Apollo launch pad fire in January 1967. Slayton and Shepard, like Cooper, died earlier of natural causes. Cooper joined Charles Conrad Jr. for his second space flight, an eight-day mission aboard a two-man Gemini capsule in August 1965 that was designed to confirm astronauts could survive in space long enough to reach and return from the moon. Despite numerous technical glitches, the two astronauts completed a 191-hour, 122-orbit mission that included a make-believe rendezvous to test the techniques that would be needed during the Apollo program. Cooper's efforts and those of his fellow Mercury astronauts ... serve as reminders of what drives us to explore," O'Keefe said. "They also remind us that to succeed any vision for exploration needs the support of the American people." Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Ok. He earned a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956 and later received an honorary doctorate of science degree from Oklahoma City University in 1967. Cooper received an Army commission after three years at the University of Hawaii, but he transferred his commission to the Air Force and began flight training in 1949. He flew F-84 and F-86 jets while stationed in Germany. After earning his degree, he was selected for training at the Air Force test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The sprawling base is just a few miles from the Mojave Airport where pilot Brian Binnie became the second private-sector astronaut earlier today with a flight that mirrored, in some ways, the early Mercury missions. He was selected as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959, becoming an instant celebrity in the space race with the former Soviet Union. Along with his two space flights, Cooper served as backup commander for Gemini 12 and the Apollo 10 mission that preceded the first landing on the moon in 1969. He retired from the Air Force and NASA in 1970. That same year, he founded Gordon Cooper and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in a wide variety of commercial enterprises. In 1975, he joined Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc. as vice president of research and development. He held a variety of other positions in the private sector and served as an on-air consultant for CBS News during Glenn's launch aboard the space shuttle Discovery in October 1998. Cooper listed his hobbies as treasure hunting, archeology, racing, flying and outdoor sports. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Astronautical Society and many others. His honors and awards include the Air Force Legion of Merit, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross Cluster and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He also held the Ivan E. Kincheloe Trophy, the Collier Trophy and a variety of other aerospace honors. This is a reminder of just how long it has been since the heady days of the early space program, and of how so little of that promise has been realized. The history of spaceflight is a history of missed opportunities, of short-sighted politics, of bureaucratic fumbling and inertia, of facetious luddite soundbites undermining public support, and (most importantly in my humble opinion) of uncontrolled profiteering and careerism moving inexorably toward a state of nil results for infinite expenditure. It is a bitter irony that Gordo left us on the very day that the X-Prize has shown the way to realizing the extraordinary possibilities that he and others dared and sacrificed so much to create. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #8 I loooooove "the Right stuff". Watched it six or seven times. Last one was two weeks ago. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-10-05 2:28:11 PM |
| #7 Gordo: "You're lookin' at him!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-10-05 11:29:02 AM |
| #6 Rest in Peace, Gordo! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-10-05 11:18:59 AM |
| #5 Several Russians have made manual reentries but they all missed their landing zone.... Gordo said he decided to miss the Kearsage at the last minute. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-05 10:28:59 AM |
| #4 Hell, at this point in time, we can't even replicate what Cooper did in his Mercury capsule, let alone send humans to the moon. How the mighty have fallen. |
| Posted by: Weird Al 2004-10-05 9:54:38 AM |
| #3 I think the last lines of "The Right Stuff" are a fitting memorial: "...'OH, LORD,WHAT A HEAVENLY LIGHT'...THE MERCURY PROGRAM WAS OVER. FOUR YEARS LATER, ASTRONAUT GUS GRISSOM WAS KILLED,ALONG WITH ASTRONAUTS WHITE AND CHAFFEE WHEN FIRE SWEPT THROUGH THEIR APOLLO CAPSULE. BUT ON THAT GLORIOUS DAY IN MAY, 1963, GORDO COOPER WENT HIGHER,FARTHER, AND FASTER THAN ANY OTHER AMERICAN. 22 COMPLETE ORBITS AROUND THE WORLD. HE WAS THE LAST AMERICAN EVER TO GO INTO SPACE ALONE. AND FOR A BRIEF MOMENT,GORDO COOPER BECAME THE GREATEST PILOT ANYONE HAD EVER SEEN." Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-10-05 7:42:26 AM |
| #2 "Gordo, who's the best pilot you ever saw?" |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-05 7:38:45 AM |
| #1 Luddite media-slave soundbite: "Why should we spend all that money on space when we have so many problems right here?" To begin with, I have never met anyone who said this who knew within an order of magnitude just how much was budgeted for space how this compared to, say, food stamps (about the same) or farm subsidies (twice as much as space) or defense (typically twenty times as much and much more these days). Secondly, it is not possible to spend money in space as opposed to "right here." From the luddites' phrasing, you would suppose that we stuff spacecraft with diamonds and neogtiable bonds and shoot them off into the void. In fact, there are no contractors or facilities or banks on Mars or in the Asteroid belt (at least not yet), it is all spent on Earth. Thirdly, spaceflight exists ultimately for the sole purpose of benefiting the human race by assuring its survival, and there are many short-term benefits as well. The average proudly myopic media slave is not obliged to acknowledge this but it is nevertheless quite real and documented. Reflexive peaceniks like GnawAn'Pis deplore the existence of "spy satellites," for example. They are either too ignorant or; more likely, too dishonest; to acknowledge that these very systems make comprehensive arms control agreements possible. Of course, they claim that is our fault if are threatened and that we can assure peace only by "trusting others" and "acknowledging our mistakes" (as the dictators, terrorists, and power-freak authoritarians see them) that is, abject surrender. This would naturally result in totalitarians and terrorist slave-masters gaining absolute world dominance. The peaceniks cannot possibly be stupid enough not to know that. It is, in fact, their objective. It could not be more clear that they are not for peace, they are for the other side. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-10-05 6:48:14 AM |