Because MA-9 would orbit over nearly every part of Earth from 33degrees north to 33degrees south,[35] a total of 28ships, 171aircraft, and 18,000servicemen were assigned to support the mission. Cooper competed in the Southwest Championship Drag Boat races at La Porte, Texas, later in 1965,[61] and in the 1967 Orange Bowl Regatta with fire fighter Red Adair. Family: Cooper married the former Susan Taylor and had four daughters, Camala, Janita, Elizabeth and Colleen. American Astronautical Society (AAS), Blue Lodge Masons, York Rite Masons, Apollo 13 command position was given to James A. Lovell.16, Following the conclusion of the Gemini program, Cooper was assigned to Cooper's first flight assignment came in 1950 at Landstuhl Air Base, West Germany, where he flew F-84 Thunderjets and F-86 Sabres for four years. After completing three years of coursework at the University of Ohio he received a United States Army commission. Cooper held licenses with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Was selected as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959. . Freemasonry Blue Lodge, New York Rite, Scottish Rite 33rd Rotary International Order of DeMolay Legion of Honor Distinguished Flying Cross Cholecystectomy San Antonio, TX (28-Jul-1965) Visited Disneyland (21-May-1998), Do you know something we don't? [57], The two astronauts established a new space endurance record by traveling a distance of 3,312,993 miles (5,331,745km) in 190 hours and 56 minutesjust short of eight daysshowing that astronauts could survive in space for the length of time necessary to go from the Earth to the Moon and back. Advertisement. The 2017 Discovery Channel docu-series Cooper's Treasure followed by Darrell Miklos as he searched through Cooper's files to discover the location of the suspected shipwrecks. [71][72], In Cooper's autobiography, Leap of Faith, co-authored with Bruce Henderson, he recounted his experiences with the Air Force and NASA, along with his efforts to expose an alleged UFO conspiracy theory. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. (March 6, 1927 - October 4, 2004), also known as Gordon Cooper, was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot and one of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space program of the United States. He unofficially soloed when he was 12years old, and earned his pilot's license in a Piper J-3 Cub when he was 16.

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