Gordo Cooper....

[oldkicker]

...trail blazing astronaut and test pilot, Cooper was also vice president for research and development for Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc., from 1974-1980.

I smile every time I see the ending of the movie The Right Stuff as Cooper gets his turn to rocket into space and the narrator announces him the best pilot in the world, at least for that moment.

From CNN.com -
"Leroy Gordon Cooper, one of the nation's first astronauts who once set a space endurance record by traveling more than 3.3 million miles aboard Gemini 5 in 1965, died on Monday, NASA said. He was 77."

Full article

The excitement and awe I felt at watching the Mercury program when I was a kid is undiminished today.

God speed, Gordo Cooper.

 

[Patch'sD]

God Bless, "The Best Pilot I ever saw".

How many of the Seven are left?

 

[Tinks]

Oh! I heard this last night and I am so He was one of the originals. I really wanted to meet any of the 7. They make it to Florida on occasion. We just missed meeting Alan Shepard a few years back. As they are aging, I doubt we'll hear much from them, but I loved Gordo. Rest in Peace.

"Who's the best pilot you ever saw...."

"You're looking at him."

 

[Desiree]

I just watched "The Right Stuff" again a couple of days ago. I'm very sad to read this.

Godspeed Gordo!

 

[Galahad]

 

[snoopy]

Love that movie, its one of my favorites. So sad to hear he's gone.

 

[WDWHound]

I posted a thread about this yesterday. He died on the day the X Prize was won. Something wonderful and yet sad in that.

He was one of my heros. Such a sad loss.

 

[oldkicker]

I missed your post, Hound, but you are right....I was thinking the same thing about the timing of his passing.

Snoopy - it is a really wonderful movie - one I confess to watching again and again and again. There's one scene where a spectator is standing, watching the rocket as it soars into the sky and he utters that one word..."GO". I can well remember saying exactly the same thing watching those launches on TV. The wonder of it all.

This surely is a sad passing.

 

[JimB.]

Godspeed, Gordo.......................

That leaves just 3 of the Original Seven: John Glenn, Wally Schirra & Scott Carpenter.


I always get a kick out of the finale to "The Right Stuff" (Which, BTW is my favorite movie in the Universe..):

"The Mercury program was over................................ but on that GLORIOUS day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper flew higher, farther & faster than any other American. 22 complete orbits around the world, he was the last American to ever go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the Greatest Pilot anyone had ever seen........"


I know it sounds stupid, but I stil get choked up every time I watch that...............


BTW, A little trivia............. JimB's late father supervised the fueling of Gordo's Faith 7 Atlas rocket. Nice Job, Dad.

 

[Mary Ellen]

I saw WDWHound's post on this right after he/she posted, but didn't take time to reply. I needed to call a lady a know, as she and Gordo grew up together in Shawnee, Oklahoma (she was a year ahead of him in school) - his grandmother was even the principal of the school they attended. She's said that his first space flight is the one she remembers most since he was a real person to her, not just a name.

I also know a gentleman who worked with the astronauts (original 7 to Apollo program). He was one of the MD/PhD who did all the 'interesting' tests on the astronauts as shown in The Right Stuff. He's said that the 'cocky' attitude attritubed to Cooper in the movie was more like one of the other 7, than Gordo.

Actually, these 2 people have known each other for years, but they didn't learn until last January that they both had known Gordon Cooper at different stages in his life.

God speed -

 

[nativetxn]

Gordon Cooper was one of my heroes. I would have loved to have met him.

 

[mickeysaver]

Originally posted by JimB.
"The Mercury program was over................................ but on that GLORIOUS day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper flew higher, farther & faster than any other American. 22 complete orbits around the world, he was the last American to ever go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the Greatest Pilot anyone had ever seen........"


I know it sounds stupid, but I stil get choked up every time I watch that...............

Well, if it's stupid, I am right there with you. I was a huge space nut as a kid and I must have seen the Right Stuff at least 200 times. I loved the character that the movie made out of Gordo. I also get choked up at that part of the movie.

I was surprised when I found out that he had been a part of WED when I looked him up on the net a few weeks ago. It only made me love him more.

I have lost a hero.

God Speed Gordo.......the best pilot ever.

 

[Kitty 34]

How sad.