Leroy Gordon 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. 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. In 1963, Cooper piloted the longest and last Mercury spaceflight, Mercury-Atlas 9. During that 34-hour mission, he became the first American to spend an entire day in space, the first to sleep in space, and the last American launched on an entirely solo orbital mission. Despite a series of severe equipment failures, he completed the mission under manual control, guiding his spacecraft, which he named Faith 7, to a splashdown just 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) ahead of the recovery ship. Cooper became the first person to make a second orbital flight when he flew as command pilot of Gemini 5 in 1965. Along with pilot Pete Conrad, he set a new space endurance record by traveling 5,331,745 kilometres (3,312,993 mi) in 190 hours and 56 minutes—just short of eight days—showing that astronauts could survive in space for the length of time necessary to go from the Earth to the Moon and back. Cooper liked to race cars and boats, and entered the $28,000 Salton City 500 miles (800 km) boat race, the Southwest Championship Drag Boat races in 1965, and the 1967 Orange Bowl Regatta with firefighter Red Adair. In 1968, he entered the 24 Hours of Daytona, but NASA management ordered him to withdraw due to the dangers involved. After serving as backup commander of the Apollo 10 mission, he was superseded by Alan Shepard. He retired from NASA and the Air Force with the rank of colonel in 1970.
Early life and education Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the only child of Leroy Gordon Cooper Sr. and his wife, Hattie Lee née Herd. His father enlisted in the United States Navy during World War I. After the war, Cooper Sr. completed high school; Hattie Lee was one of the teachers, although she was only two years older. He joined the Oklahoma National Guard, where he flew a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, graduated from law school, and became a state district judge. After active service in World War II, he transferred to United States Air Force (USAF) when it was formed in 1947, and was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii Territory. Cooper attended Jefferson Elementary School and Shawnee High School, where he was on the football and track teams. During his senior year in high school, he played halfback on the football team that played in the state football championship. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America, where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. His parents owned a Command-Aire 3C3 biplane, and he learned to fly at a young age. His father sat him on cushions so he could see and rigged the rudder pedals with blocks so he could reach them. He unofficially soloed when he was 12 years old, and earned his pilot license in a Piper J-3 Cub when he was 16. His family moved to Murray, Kentucky, when his father was called back into service, and he graduated from Murray High School in June 1945. After Cooper learned that the United States Army and Navy flying schools were not taking any more candidates, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He left for Parris Island as soon as he graduated from high school, declining a football scholarship to Oklahoma A&M. World War II ended before he saw overseas service. He was assigned to the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS) and was an alternate appointee to the United States Naval Academy (USNA) but was not appointed. After graduating from NAPS, he served with the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington, D.C. until he was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946. Following his discharge from the Marine Corps, Cooper went to Hawaii to live with his parents. He started attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and bought his own J-3 Cub. There he met his first wife, Trudy B. Olson (1927–1994) of Seattle, through the local flying club. She was active in flying and later became the only wife of a Mercury Seven astronaut to have a private pilot license. They were married on August 29, 1947, in Honolulu, when both were 20 years old. They had two daughters.
Military service At college, Cooper was active in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), which led to his being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in June 1949. He was able to transfer his commission to the United States Air Force in September. He received flight training at Perrin Air Force Base, Texas and Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, in the T-6 Texan.
On completion of his flight training in 1950, Cooper was posted to Neubiberg Air Base in West Germany, where he flew F-84 Thunderjets and F-86 Sabres for four years. He became a flight commander of the 525th Fighter Bomber Squadron. While in Germany, he attended the European Extension of the University of Maryland. He returned to the United States in 1954, and studied for two years at the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Ohio of Air University. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering there on August 28, 1956. While at AFIT, Cooper met Gus Grissom, a fellow USAF officer, and the two became good friends. They were involved in an accident on takeoff from Lowry Field on June 23, 1956, when the Lockheed T-33 Cooper was piloting suddenly lost power. He aborted the takeoff, but the landing gear collapsed. The aircraft skidded erratically for 610 metres (2,000 ft), and crashed at the end of the runway, bursting into flames. Cooper and Grissom escaped unscathed, although the aircraft was a total loss. Cooper and Grissom attended the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 56D) at Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1956. After graduation Cooper was posted to the Flight Test Engineering Division at Edwards, where he served as a test pilot and project manager testing the F-102A and F-106B. He also flew the T-28, T-37, F-86, F-100 and F-104. By the time he left Edwards, he had logged more than 2,000 hours of flight time, of which 1,600 hours were in jet aircraft.
NASA career
Project Mercury
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