Astronaut Gordon Cooper - The Right Stuff Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927 in the Shawnee-Tecumseh area. Cooper reached for the stars and captured the hearts and imagination of the world. One of America’s original seven astronauts, Cooper returned from a 22-orbit space flight to a hero’s ticker tape parade in New York City on May 22, 1963. He was a celebrity in his hometown, where a triumphant parade and celebration were held. Cooper’s flight in his Faith 7 capsule stretched the capabilities of the Mercury spacecraft to the limits. The mission, May 15-16, 1963, lasted more than 34 hours and 22 orbits. That was more than three times the longest U.S. human space flight until that time, and far exceeded the initial design capability of the capsule. During the 19th orbit, the capsule experienced a power failure. Carbon dioxide levels began to rise and the cabin temperature reached more than 100 degrees. Cooper used his knowledge of star patterns and piloting experience to make the first manual control re-entry estimating the pitch for re-entry into the atmosphere. He drew lines on the tiny capsule window and used a wristwatch to adjust the craft’s orientation before firing re-entry rockets. Any error in his calculations could have caused the capsule to burn up in the atmosphere or skip off the atmosphere into deep space. The coolness of this brash “stick and rudder man” was legendary. Cooper went on to command the Gemini 5 flight and served as backup command pilot of Gemini 12 and Apollo 10. “Gordon Cooper was a pioneer of human space exploration,” said President George W. Bush.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:32:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015