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. 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 service as a fighter pilot, he qualified as a test pilot in 1956, and was selected as an astronaut in 1959.
1927 — 2004
Wikimedia, Wikidata Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, Jr.; Leroy Gordon Cooper astronaut, engineer, military officer, test pilot, military flight engineer, aircraft pilot, racing automobile driver, Dong Fang Hong 2, Ekran,
Charles "Pete" Conrad and Gordon Cooper joking after landing of Gemini 5
Gordon Cooper Jr. is being weighed and balanced in the Pyrotechnic Installation Building
Mercury 7 Astronauts Examine Their Couches
Gordon Cooper 1962 portrait
Gordon Cooper in 1960
Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper Jr. (left) and Charles Conrad Jr. prepare to be hoisted to the white room atop gantry at Pad 19
Astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. (right) and L. Gordon Cooper Jr. are pictured during suiting up operations before Gemini-5 spaceflight
S63-03960 (1 Feb. 1963) --- Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr., prime pilot for the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) mission, checks over the instrument panel from Mercury spacecraft #20 with Robert Graham, McDonnell Aircraft Corp. spacecraft engineer.
S63-03960 (1 Feb. 1963) --- Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr., prime pilot for the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) mission, checks over the instrument panel from Mercury spacecraft #20 with Robert Graham, McDonnell Aircraft Corp. spacecraft engineer.