Astronaut Gordon Cooper has died.

[WDWHound]

He was 77.

Here is a link to the CNN story:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/gordon.cooper/index.html

He was one of the original Mercury 7 and logged 222 hours in space on the Mercury and Gemini programs. He was also one of my heros.

Godspeed, Colonel Cooper.

 

[binny]

Godspeed

 

[Peter Pirate]

As portrayed in "The Right Stuff" Mr. Cooper, did indeed, have the right stuff.

 

[nativetxn]

Gordo?? I'm so sad to read this

 

[Grog]

Sad news indeed It's hard to believe his Mercury flight was over 40 years ago.

One of my favorite movie lines of all time is the very last line of The Right Stuff: "...and for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen"

 

[Poohbear123]

 

[WDWHound]

I just realized, he died on the day the X Prize was won. I hope he lived to hear about it. I would be nice if he left this world knowing what wonderfull progress was being made based on the foundation he helped to build.

 

[Dan Murphy]

What sad news, Don. Truly one of my real heros, as were all those early pioneers of space. And yes, what irony of SpaceShipOne today.

 

[sjh801]

I guess that I am dating myself in remembering the Mercury astronauts. When I was little we would watch the space shots on TV at school. They were a part of the Baby boomers' childhood.

Godspeed!

 

[mudhen]

You're not dating yourself......I'm a 30 something who can't
get enough of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo history.

I teach 4th grade, and in Ohio history obviously Glenn and
Armstrong are very prominent. My students (9 and 10 yr olds)
tell me that our unit on NASA during this time period turns out
to be their favorite of the whole year.

Here's to ya Gordo..........

 

[Deb in IA]

Those early astronauts were true pioneers.

Farewell, and Godspeed, Gordon Cooper . . .