Editing Gordon Cooper

{{short description|American astronaut (1927–2004)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}
{{good article}}
{{for|the American football player|Gordon Cooper (American football)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox astronaut
|image         = Gordon Cooper 2.jpg
|caption       = Cooper in 1964
|birth_name    = Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr.
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1927|3|6}}
|birth_place   = [[Shawnee, Oklahoma]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|2004|10|4|1927|3|6}}
|death_place   = [[Ventura, California]], U.S.
|spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Trudy B. Olson|1947|1970|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Suzan Taylor|1972}}
}}
|education     = [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]]<br>[[University of Maryland, College Park]]<br>[[Air University (United States Air Force)|Air University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
|awards        = {{ubl|[[Legion of Merit]]|[[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] (2)|[[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]]|[[NASA Exceptional Service Medal]]}}
|type          = [[NASA astronaut]]
|rank          = [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]], [[United States Air Force|USAF]]
|time          = 9d 9h 14m
|selection     = [[Mercury Seven|NASA Group 1 (1959)]]
|mission       = [[Mercury-Atlas 9]]<br>[[Gemini 5]]
|insignia      = [[File:Faith 7 insignia.gif|46px]] [[File:Gemini-5-logo.png|55px]] 
|retirement    = July 31, 1970
}}
'''Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr.''' (March 6, 1927&nbsp;– October 4, 2004) was an American [[aerospace engineer]], [[test pilot]], [[United States Air Force]] [[Aviator|pilot]], and the youngest of the [[Mercury Seven|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&nbsp;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.

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 spaceflight|orbital]] mission. Despite a series of severe equipment failures, he successfully completed the mission under manual control, guiding his spacecraft, which he named ''[[Faith 7]]'', to a [[splashdown]] just {{convert|4|mi}} ahead of the recovery ship. Cooper became the first astronaut 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 {{convert|3312993|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 {{Convert|500|mi|km|abbr=}} boat race, and the Southwest Championship Drag Boat races in 1965, and the 1967 Orange Bowl Regatta with fire fighter [[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 (United States)|colonel]] in 1970.

== Early life and education ==
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927, in [[Shawnee, Oklahoma]],{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=336}} the only child of Leroy Gordon Cooper Sr. and his wife, Hattie Lee {{nee}} Herd.<ref name=40thmerc7 /> His mother was a school teacher. His father enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War I]], and served on the presidential yacht {{USS|Mayflower|PY-1|6}}. After the war, Cooper&nbsp;Sr. completed his high school education; Hattie Lee was one of his teachers, although she was only two years older than he. He joined the [[Oklahoma National Guard]], flying a [[Curtiss JN-4]] biplane, despite never having formal military pilot training. He graduated from college and law school, and became a [[State court (United States)|state district judge]]. He was called to active duty during [[World War II]], and served in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific theater]] in the [[Judge Advocate General's Corps]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=93–94}} He transferred to [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) after it was formed in 1947, and was stationed at [[Hickam Air Force Base]], [[Hawaii Territory]]. Cooper Sr. retired from the USAF with the rank of [[colonel (United States)|colonel]] in 1957.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}}

Cooper attended Jefferson Elementary School and Shawnee High School,{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}} where he was on the [[American football|football]] and track teams. During his [[Senior (education)|senior]] high school year, he played [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]] in the state football championship.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=102}} He was active in the [[Boy Scouts of America]], where he achieved its second highest rank, [[Life Scout]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/scouting_space.aspx |title=Scouting and Space Exploration |publisher=Boy Scouts of America |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032406/http://www.scouting.org/about/factsheets/scouting_space.aspx |archive-date=March 4, 2016|access-date=January 2, 2018}}</ref> His parents owned a [[Command-Aire 3C3]] [[biplane]], and he learned to fly at a young age. He unofficially soloed when he was 12&nbsp;years old, and earned his [[Pilot certification in the United States|pilot certification]] in a [[Piper J-3 Cub]] when he was 16.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}}{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=94–95}} His family moved to [[Murray, Kentucky]], when his father was called back into service, and he graduated from [[Murray High School (Kentucky)|Murray High School]] in June&nbsp;1945.<ref name=40thmerc7 />

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]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=102}} He left for [[Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island|Parris Island]] as soon as he graduated from high school,<ref name=40thmerc7 /> but World War&nbsp;II ended before he saw overseas service. He was assigned to the [[Naval Academy Preparatory School]] as an alternate for an appointment to the [[United States Naval Academy]] at [[Annapolis, Maryland]], but the primary appointee was accepted, and Cooper was assigned to guard duty in [[Washington, D.C.]] He was serving with the [[Guard of honour#United States|Presidential Honor Guard]] when he was [[Military discharge|discharged]] from the Marine Corps in 1946.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=102}}

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. {{anchor|Trudy}}There he met his first wife, Trudy&nbsp;B. Olson (1927–1994) of [[Seattle]], through the local flying club. She was active in flying, and would later become the only wife of a Mercury astronaut to have a [[Pilot certification in the United States|private pilot certification]]. They were married on August&nbsp;29, 1947, in [[Honolulu]], when both were 20&nbsp;years old. They had two daughters.<ref name=40thmerc7>{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/cooper.htm |title=L. Gordon Cooper Jr. |last1=Gray |first1=Tara |work=40th Anniversary of Mercury 7 |publisher=NASA |access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}}{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=102–103}}

==Military service==
[[File:USAF Experimental Flight Test School Class 56D.jpg|thumb|left|[[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|USAF Experimental Flight Test School]] Class 56D. Front row: Captains Gordon Cooper, [[James W. Wood|James Wood]], Jack Mayo and [[Gus Grissom]].]]
At college, Cooper was active in the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC),{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=102–103}} 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 1949.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=70/ |title=Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. |publisher=Veteran Tributes |access-date=December 30, 2018}}</ref> He received flight training at [[Perrin Air Force Station|Perrin Air Force Base]], [[Texas]] and [[Williams Air Force Base]], [[Arizona]],{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}} in the [[T-6 Texan]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=102–103}}

On completion of his flight training in 1950, Cooper was posted to [[Ramstein Air Base|Landstuhl Air Base]], [[West Germany]], where he flew [[F-84 Thunderjet]]s and [[F-86 Sabre]]s for four years. He became a [[flight commander]] of the [[525th Fighter Squadron|525th Fighter Bomber Squadron]]. While in Germany, he attended the European Extension of the [[University of Maryland University College|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 (United States Air Force)|Air University]]. He completed his [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in [[Aerospace Engineering]] there on August 28, 1956.{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}}{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=13}}

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 and the aircraft skidded erratically for {{convert|2000|ft}}, and crashed at the end of the runway, bursting into flames. Cooper and Grissom escaped unscathed, although the aircraft was a total loss.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=13}}

Cooper and Grissom attended the [[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School]] (Class 56D) at [[Edwards Air Force Base]] in [[California]] in 1956.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=13}} After graduation Cooper was posted to the [[Air Force Test Center|Flight Test Engineering Division]] at Edwards, where he served as a [[test pilot]] and [[project manager]] testing the [[F-102A]] and [[F-106 Delta Dart|F-106B]].<ref name=40thmerc7 /> He also flew the [[North American T-28 Trojan|T-28]], [[Cessna T-37 Tweet|T-37]], [[F-86]], [[North American F-100 Super Sabre|F-100]] and [[F-104]].{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=14}} 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]].{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=13}}

==NASA career==
===Project Mercury===
{{Main|Project Mercury}}
[[File:Mercury Suit Gordon Cooper.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Cooper in his Mercury spacesuit, the [[Navy Mark IV]] ]]
In January 1959, Cooper received unexpected orders to report to Washington, D.C. There was no indication what it was about, but his commanding officer, [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] Marcus F. Cooper (no relation) recalled an announcement in the newspaper saying that a contract had been awarded to [[McDonnell Aircraft]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], to build a space capsule, and advised Cooper not to volunteer for astronaut training. On February 2, 1959, Cooper attended a [[NASA]] briefing on [[Project Mercury]] and the part astronauts would play in it. Cooper went through the selection process with another 109 pilots,{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=7–10}} and was not surprised when he was accepted as the youngest of the first seven American astronauts.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=12–15}}{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=73}}

During the selection interviews, Cooper had been asked about his domestic relationship, and had lied, saying that he and Trudy had a good, stable marriage. In fact, they had separated four months before, and she was living with their daughters in San Diego while he occupied a bachelor's quarters at Edwards. Aware that NASA wanted to project an image of its astronauts as loving family men, and that his story would not stand up to scrutiny, he drove down to San Diego to see Trudy at the first opportunity. Lured by the prospect of a great adventure for herself and her daughters, she agreed to go along with the charade and pretend that they were a happily married couple.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=23–24}}

The identities of the [[Mercury Seven]] were announced at a press conference at [[Dolley Madison House]] in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1959:{{sfn|Burgess|2011|pp=274–275}} [[Scott Carpenter]], Gordon Cooper, [[John Glenn]], Gus Grissom, [[Wally Schirra]], [[Alan Shepard]], and [[Deke Slayton]].{{sfn|Atkinson|Shafritz|1985|pp=42–47}} Each was assigned a different portion of the project along with other special assignments. Cooper specialized in the [[Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle|Redstone rocket]], which would be used for the first, [[sub-orbital spaceflight]]s.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=22–23}} He also chaired the Emergency Egress Committee, responsible for working out emergency [[launch pad]] [[Launch escape system|escape procedures]],{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=34}} and engaged [[Bo Randall]] to develop a personal [[survival knife]] for astronauts to carry.{{sfn|Cooper et al.|2010|pp=83–85}}

The astronauts drew their salaries as military officers, and an important component of that was flight pay. In Cooper's case, it amounted to $145 a month ({{Inflation|US|145|1959|fmt=eq}}). NASA saw no reason to provide the astronauts with aircraft, so they had to fly to meetings around the country on commercial airlines. To continue earning their flight pay, Grissom and Slayton would go out on the weekend to [[Langley Air Force Base]], and attempt to put in the required four hours a month, competing for [[Lockheed T-33|T-33 aircraft]] with senior deskbound colonels and generals. Cooper traveled to [[McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base]] in [[Tennessee]], where a friend let him fly higher-performance [[List of Lockheed F-104 Starfighter variants#F-104B|F-104B]] jets. This came up when Cooper had lunch with [[William Hines (journalist)|William Hines]], a reporter for ''[[The Washington Star]]'', and was duly reported in the paper. Cooper then discussed the issue with [[Congressman]] [[James G. Fulton]]. The matter was taken up by the [[House Committee on Science and Astronautics]]. Within weeks the astronauts had priority access to [[Convair F-102 Delta Dagger|USAF F-102s]], something which Cooper considered a "hot plane", but could still take off from and land at short civilian airfields; however, this debacle did not make Cooper popular with senior NASA management.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Wolfe|1979|pp=152–153}}

After [[General Motors]] executive [[Ed Cole]] presented Shepard with a brand-new [[Chevrolet Corvette]], [[Jim Rathmann (race car driver)|Jim Rathmann]], a racing car driver who won the [[Indianapolis 500]] in 1960, and was a Chevrolet dealer in [[Melbourne, Florida]], convinced Cole to turn this into an ongoing marketing campaign. Henceforth, astronauts would be able to lease brand-new Corvettes for a dollar a year. All of the Mercury Seven but Glenn soon took up the offer. Cooper, Grissom and Shepard were soon racing their Corvettes around Cape Canaveral, with the police ignoring their exploits. From a marketing perspective, it was very successful, and helped the highly priced Corvette become established as a desirable brand. Cooper held licenses with the [[Sports Car Club of America]] (SCCA) and the [[National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing]] (NASCAR). He also enjoyed racing speedboats.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=36}}{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=336}}

Cooper served as [[capsule communicator]] (CAPCOM) for NASA's first [[sub-orbital spaceflight]], by [[Alan Shepard]] in [[Mercury-Redstone 3]],{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=28–30}} and [[Scott Carpenter]]'s orbital flight on [[Mercury-Atlas 7]],{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=47}} and was backup pilot for [[Wally Schirra]] in [[Mercury-Atlas 8]].{{sfn|Burgess|2011|p=337}}

===Mercury-Atlas 9===
{{Main|Mercury-Atlas 9}}
[[File:Cooper - GPN-2000-000997.jpg|thumb|[[Mercury-Atlas 9]] lifts off from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14]] on May&nbsp;15, 1963]]
Cooper was designated for the next mission, [[Mercury-Atlas 9]] ({{nowr|MA-9}}). Apart from the grounded Slayton, he was the only one of the Mercury Seven who had not yet flown in space.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|pp=121–122}}{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=336}} Cooper's selection was publicly announced on November&nbsp;14, 1962, with Shepard designated as his backup.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=122}}

Project Mercury had begun with a goal of ultimately flying an 18-orbit, {{nowr|27-hour}} mission, known as the manned one-day mission.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=486–487}} On November&nbsp;9, senior staff at the [[Manned Spacecraft Center]] decided to fly a {{nowr|22-orbit}} mission as {{nowr|MA-9}}. Project Mercury still remained years behind the Soviet Union's space program, which had already flown a {{nowr|64-orbit}} mission in [[Vostok 3|Vostok&nbsp;3]]. When Atlas {{nowr|130-D}}, the booster designated for {{nowr|MA-9}}, first emerged from the factory in San Diego on January&nbsp;30, 1963, it failed to pass inspection and was returned to the factory.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=489–490}} For Schirra's {{nowr|MA-8}}&nbsp;mission, 20&nbsp;modifications had been made to the Mercury spacecraft; for Cooper's {{nowr|MA-9}}, 183&nbsp;changes were made.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|pp=489–490}}{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=127}} Cooper decided to name his spacecraft, Mercury Spacecraft No.&nbsp;20, ''[[Faith 7]]''. NASA public affairs officers could see the newspaper headlines if the spacecraft were lost at sea: "NASA loses Faith".{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=492}}

After an argument with NASA Deputy Administrator [[Walter C. Williams]] over last-minute changes to his [[pressure suit]] to insert a new medical probe, Cooper was nearly replaced by Shepard.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}} This was followed by Cooper [[wikt:buzz#Verb|buzzing]] Hangar&nbsp;S at [[Cape Canaveral]] in an {{nowr|[[F-102]]}} and lighting the [[afterburner]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}} Williams told Slayton he was prepared to replace Cooper with Shepard. They decided not to, but not to let Cooper know immediately. Instead, Slayton told Cooper that Williams was looking to ground whomever buzzed Hangar&nbsp;S.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=129}} According to Cooper, Slayton later told him that President [[John F. Kennedy]] had intervened to prevent his removal.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=37–39}}

Cooper was launched into space on May 15, 1963, aboard the ''Faith&nbsp;7'' spacecraft, for what turned out to be the last of the Project Mercury missions. Because {{nowr|MA-9}} would orbit over nearly every part of Earth from 33&nbsp;degrees north to 33&nbsp;degrees south,{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=489}} a total of 28&nbsp;ships, 171&nbsp;aircraft, and 18,000&nbsp;servicemen were assigned to support the mission.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=489}} He orbited the Earth 22&nbsp;times and logged more time in space than all five previous Mercury astronauts combined: 34&nbsp;hours, 19&nbsp;minutes, and 49&nbsp;seconds. Cooper achieved an altitude of {{convert|165.9|mi|km|0}} at [[Apsis|apogee]]. He was the first American astronaut to sleep, not only in orbit,<ref name=40thmerc7 />{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=497}} but on the [[launch pad]] during a countdown.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=496}}

[[File:MA-9 Faith 7 Space Center Houston, Houston, TX.JPG|thumb|''[[Faith 7]]'' is currently on display at [[Space Center Houston]]]]
There were several mission-threatening technical problems toward the end of ''Faith 7''{{'}}s flight. During the 19th&nbsp;orbit, the capsule had a power failure. Carbon dioxide levels began rising, both in Cooper's suit and in the cabin, and the cabin temperature climbed to over {{convert|130|F|lk=on}}. The clock and then the [[gyroscope]]s failed, but the radio, which was connected directly to the battery, remained working, and allowed Cooper to communicate with the mission controllers.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=52–53}} Like all Mercury flights, {{nowr|MA-9}} was designed for fully automatic control, a controversial engineering decision which reduced the role of an astronaut to that of a passenger, and prompted [[Chuck Yeager]] to describe Mercury astronauts as "Spam in a can".{{sfn|Wolfe|1979|p=78}} "This flight would put an end to all that nonsense," Cooper later wrote. "My electronics were shot and a {{em|pilot}} had the stick."{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=57}}

Turning to his understanding of star patterns, Cooper took manual control of the tiny capsule and successfully estimated the correct [[Flight dynamics|pitch]] for [[Atmospheric entry|re-entry]] into the atmosphere.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=56–57}} Precision was needed in the calculation; small errors in timing or orientation could produce large errors in the landing point. Cooper drew lines on the capsule window to help him check his orientation before firing the re-entry rockets. "So I used my wrist watch for time," he later recalled, "my eyeballs out the window for {{as written|[[Attitude dynamics and control|attitude]]}}. Then I fired my retrorockets at the right time and landed right by the carrier."<ref name="UFO">{{cite news |work=Space.com |url=http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/gordon_ufos_000728.html |title=Gordon Cooper Touts New Book Leap of Faith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727041953/http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/gordon_ufos_000728.html |archive-date=July 27, 2010 |date=July 30, 2000 |access-date=January 20, 2008 |last1=David |first1=Leonard}}</ref>

''Faith 7'' [[splashed down]] {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in}} ahead of the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier {{USS|Kearsarge|CV-33|6}}. ''Faith&nbsp;7'' was hoisted on board by a helicopter with Cooper still inside. Once on deck he used the explosive bolts to blow open the hatch. Postflight inspections and analyses studied the causes and nature of the electrical problems that had plagued the final hours of the flight, but no fault was found with the performance of the pilot.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=501}}

On May 22, New York City gave Cooper a [[Ticker tape parade|ticker-tape parade]] witnessed by more than four million spectators. The parade concluded with a congratulatory luncheon at the [[Waldorf Astoria New York|Waldorf-Astoria]] attended by 1,900 people, where dignitaries such as Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and former president [[Herbert Hoover]] made speeches honoring Cooper.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hailey|first=Foster|title=City Roars Big 'Well Done' to Cooper|date=May 23, 1963|work=The New York Times|pages=1, 26}}</ref>

===Project Gemini===
{{Main|Gemini 5}}
[[File:Gemini5insignia.png|thumb|left|Cooper began the tradition of NASA mission insignia with this design for Gemini 5.]]
MA-9 was the last of the Project Mercury flights. Walt Williams and others wanted to follow up with a three-day [[Mercury-Atlas 10]] (MA-10) mission, but NASA HQ had already announced that there would be no MA-10 if MA-9 was successful.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=492}} Shepard in particular was eager to fly the mission, for which he had been designated.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=204–206}} He even attempted to enlist the support of President Kennedy.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=343–345}} An official decision that there would be no MA-10 was made by NASA Administrator [[James E. Webb]] on June 22, 1963.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=501}} Had the mission been approved, Shepard might not have flown it, as he was grounded in October 1963,{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|pp=136–139}} and MA-10 might well have been flown by Cooper, who was his backup.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=204–206}}
In January 1964 the press reported that the [[Democratic Party of Oklahoma]] discussed [[United States Senate special election in Oklahoma, 1964|running Cooper for the United States Senate]].<ref>{{cite news |via=The New York Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/316699733/ |title=From Orbiting The Earth To The Arena of Politics |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=January 18, 1964 |access-date=March 19, 2023}}</ref>

Project Mercury was followed by [[Project Gemini]], which took its name from the fact that it carried two men instead of just one.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|pp=3–5}} Slayton designated Cooper as commander of [[Gemini 5]], an eight-day, 120-orbit mission.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|pp=136–139}} Cooper's assignment was officially announced on February 8, 1965. [[Pete Conrad]], one of the [[NASA Astronaut Group 2|nine astronauts selected in 1962]] was designated as his co-pilot, with [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Elliot See]] as their respective backups. On July 22, Cooper and Conrad went through a rehearsal of a double launch of Gemini atop a [[Titan II]] booster from [[Launch Complex 19]] and an [[Atlas-Agena]] target vehicle from Launch Complex 14. At the end of the successful test, the erector could not be raised, and the two astronauts had to be retrieved with a [[cherry picker]], an escape device that Cooper had devised for Project Mercury and insisted be retained for Gemini.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|p=255}}

[[File:Astro TrudyCooper daughters.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cooper's wife Trudy watches the launch of Gemini 5 with their teenage daughters, Cam and Jan]]
Cooper and Conrad wanted to name their spacecraft ''Lady Bird'' after [[Lady Bird Johnson]], the [[First Lady of the United States]], but Webb turned down their request; he wanted to "depersonalize" the space program.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=113}} Cooper and Conrad then came up with the idea of a [[mission patch]], similar to the organizational emblems worn by military units. The patch was intended to commemorate all the hundreds of people directly involved, not just the astronauts.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=115}} Cooper and Conrad chose an embroidered cloth patch sporting the names of the two crew members, a [[Conestoga wagon]], and the slogan "8 Days or Bust" which referred to the expected mission duration.<ref name="patch1" /> Webb ultimately approved the design, but insisted on the removal of the slogan from the official version of the patch, feeling it placed too much emphasis on the mission length and not the experiments, and fearing the public might see the mission as a failure if it did not last the full duration. The patch was worn on the right breast of the astronauts' uniforms below their nameplates and opposite the NASA emblems worn on the left.<ref name=patch1>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-082415a-gemini5-50th-8daysorbust.html |title='8 Days or Bust' +50 years: Gemini 5 made history with first crew mission patch |publisher=collectSPACE |date=August 24, 2015|access-date=January 2, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|French|Burgess|2007|p=44}}

The mission was postponed from August 9 to 19 to give Cooper and Conrad more time to train, and was then delayed for two days due to a storm. Gemini 5 was launched at 09:00 on August 21, 1965. The Titan II booster placed them in a {{convert|163|by|349|km|sp=us}} orbit. Cooper's biggest concern was the [[fuel cell]]. To make it last eight days, Cooper intended to operate it at a low pressure, but when it started to dip too low the Flight Controllers advised him to switch on the oxygen heater. It eventually stabilized at {{convert|49|N/cm2}}—lower than it had ever been operated at before. While MA-9 had become uncomfortably warm, Gemini 5 became cold. There were also problems with the [[Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System]] thrusters, which became erratic, and two of them failed completely.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|pp=256–259}}

[[File:Astronaut Charles Conrad Jr. tweaks astronaut L. Gordon Cooper's eight-day growth of beard for the cameramen.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pete Conrad]] (left) and Cooper on deck of recovery carrier {{USS|Lake Champlain|CV-39|6}} after Gemini 5 mission]]
Gemini 5 was originally intended to practice [[orbital rendezvous]] with an [[Agena target vehicle]], but this had been deferred to a later mission owing to problems with the Agena.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|pp=239, 266}} Nonetheless, Cooper practiced bringing his spacecraft to a predetermined location in space. This raised confidence for achieving rendezvous with an actual spacecraft on subsequent missions, and ultimately in lunar orbit. Cooper and Conrad were able to carry out all but one of the scheduled experiments, most of which were related to orbital photography.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|pp=259–262}}

The mission was cut short by the appearance of [[Hurricane Betsy]] in the planned recovery area. Cooper fired the retrorockets on the 120th orbit. Splashdown was {{convert|130|km|sp=us}} short of the target. A computer error had set the Earth's rotation at 360 degrees per day whereas it is actually 360.98. The difference was significant in a spacecraft. The error would have been larger had Cooper not recognized the problem when the reentry gauge indicated that they were too high, and attempted to compensate by increasing the bank angle from 53 to 90 degrees to the left to increase the drag. Helicopters plucked them from the sea and took them to the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier {{USS|Lake Champlain|CV-39|6}}.{{sfn|Hacker|Grimwood|1977|pp=259–262}}

The two astronauts established a new space endurance record by traveling a distance of {{convert|3312993|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 became the first astronaut to make a second orbital flight.<ref name="nasa" />

Cooper served as backup Command Pilot for [[Gemini 12]], the last of the Gemini missions, with [[Gene Cernan]] as his pilot.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=231}}

===Project Apollo===
In November 1964, Cooper entered the $28,000 Salton City {{Convert|500|mi|km|abbr=}} boat race with racehorse owner [[Ogden Phipps]] and racing car driver [[Chuck Daigh]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Desert Sun |volume=38 |issue=78 |date=November 3, 1964 |title=Astronaut Goes to Sea |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19641103.2.75&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |access-date=January 21, 2019}}</ref> They were in fourth place when a cracked motor forced them to withdraw. The next year Cooper and Grissom had an entry in the race, but were disqualified after failing to make a mandatory meeting. Cooper competed in the Southwest Championship Drag Boat races at [[La Porte, Texas]], later in 1965,{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=233}} and in the 1967 Orange Bowl Regatta with fire fighter [[Red Adair]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/race_programs/1967_orange_bowl/reg_67orangebowl.html |title=1967 Orange Bowl Regatta |publisher=The Vintage Hydroplanes |access-date=January 21, 2019 |archive-date=August 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809133442/http://vintagehydroplanes.com/race_programs/1967_orange_bowl/reg_67orangebowl.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1968, he entered the [[24 Hours of Daytona]] with Charles Buckley, the NASA chief of security at the [[Kennedy Space Center]]. The night before the race, NASA management ordered him to withdraw due to the dangers involved.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=178}} Cooper upset NASA management by quipping to the press that "NASA wants astronauts to be tiddlywinks players."{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=178}}

[[File:Cooper Mitchell Eisele.jpg|thumb|right|[[Apollo 10]] backup crew (left to right) Cooper, [[Edgar Mitchell]], and [[Donn Eisele]] during water egress training in April 1969.]]
Cooper was selected as backup commander for the May 1969 [[Apollo 10]] mission. This placed him in line for the position of commander of [[Apollo 13]], according to the usual crew rotation procedure established by Slayton as Director of Flight Crew Operations. However, when Shepard, the [[Chief of the Astronaut Office]], returned to flight status in May 1969, Slayton replaced Cooper with Shepard as commander of this crew. This mission subsequently became [[Apollo 14]] to give Shepard more time to train.<ref name=40thmerc7 />{{sfn|Shayler|2002|p=281}} Loss of this command placed Cooper further down the flight rotation, meaning he would not fly until one of the later flights, if ever.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=176–182}}

Slayton alleged that Cooper had developed a lax attitude towards training during the Gemini program; for the Gemini 5 mission, other astronauts had to coax him into the simulator.{{sfn|Chaikin|2007|p=247}} However, according to [[Walter Cunningham]], Cooper and [[Scott Carpenter]] were the only Mercury astronauts who consistently attended geology classes.{{sfn|Cunningham|2009|pp=42–43}} Slayton later asserted that he never intended to rotate Cooper to another mission, and assigned him to the Apollo 10 backup crew simply because of a lack of qualified astronauts with command experience at the time. Slayton noted that Cooper had a slim chance of receiving the Apollo 13 command if he did an outstanding job as backup commander of Apollo 10, but Slayton felt that Cooper did not.{{sfn|Slayton|Cassutt|1994|p=236}}

Dismayed by his stalled astronaut career, Cooper retired from NASA and the USAF on July 31, 1970, with the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]], having flown 222 hours in space.<ref name=40thmerc7 /> Soon after he divorced Trudy,{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=202}} he married Suzan Taylor, a schoolteacher, in 1972.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=202}} They had two daughters: Colleen Taylor, born in 1979; and Elizabeth Jo, born in 1980. They remained married until his death in 2004.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |last1=Wald |first1=Matthew L. |title=Gordon Cooper, Astronaut, Is Dead at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/05/obituaries/05cooper.html |access-date=July 10, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 5, 2004}}</ref>

==Later life==
[[File:KSC-04pd1006~orig.jpg|thumb|left|Cooper at an induction ceremony of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2004. Astronauts [[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]] and [[Gene Cernan]] stand behind him.]]
After leaving NASA, Cooper served on several corporate boards and as technical consultant for more than a dozen companies in fields ranging from high performance boat design to energy, construction, and aircraft design.<ref name="nasa" /> Between 1962 and 1967, he was president of Performance Unlimited, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of racing and marine engines, and fiberglass boats. He was president of GCR, which designed, tested and raced championship cars, conducted tire tests for race cars, and worked on installation of turbine engines on cars. He served on the board of Teletest, which designed and installed advanced telemetry systems; Doubloon, which designed and built treasure hunting equipment; and Cosmos, which conducted archeological exploration projects.<ref name="nasa" />

As part owner and race project manager of the Profile Race Team from 1968 to 1970, Cooper designed and raced high performance boats. Between 1968 and 1974 he served as a technical consultant at Republic Corp., and General Motors, Ford and Chrysler Motor Companies, where he was a consultant on design and construction of various automotive components. He was also a technical consultant for Canaveral International, Inc., for which he developed technical products and served in public relations on its land development projects, and served on the board of directors of APECO, Campcom LowCom, and Crafttech.<ref name="nasa" />

Cooper was president of his own consulting firm, Gordon Cooper & Associates, Inc., which was involved in technical projects ranging from airline and aerospace fields to land and hotel development.<ref name="nasa" /> From 1973 to 1975, he worked for [[The Walt Disney Company]] as the vice president of research and development for [[Epcot]].<ref name="nasa" /> In 1989, he became the chief executive of Galaxy Group, Inc., a company that designed and improved small airplanes.<ref name="hall1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3228/1 |title=The Space Review: Loss of faith: Gordon Cooper's post-NASA stories |publisher=The Space Review |access-date=February 2, 2019}}</ref>

==UFO sightings==
In Cooper's autobiography, ''Leap of Faith'', co-authored with [[Bruce Henderson (author)|Bruce Henderson]], he recounted his experiences with the Air Force and [[NASA]], along with his efforts to expose an alleged [[UFO conspiracy theory]].{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=341–342}} In his review of the book, space historian [[Robert Pearlman]] wrote: "While no one can argue with someone's experiences, in the case of Cooper's own sightings, I found some difficulty understanding how someone so connected with ground breaking technology and science could easily embrace ideas such as extraterrestrial visits with little more than anecdotal evidence."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-071700a.html |publisher=collectSPACE |title='Faith' regained: Gordon Cooper interview |access-date=January 8, 2019}}</ref>

Cooper claimed to have seen his first [[UFO]] while flying over West Germany in 1951,{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|p=81}} although he denied reports he had seen a UFO during his Mercury flight.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Robert Scott |url=http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/phenomena/cooper.html |title=Gordon Cooper: No Mercury UFO |work=Space.com |date=September 10, 1999 |access-date=January 20, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123090644/http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/phenomena/cooper.html|archive-date=January 23, 2010 |publisher=Purch}}</ref> On May 3, 1957, when Cooper was at Edwards, he had a crew set up an [[Askania]] [[Cinetheodolite]] precision landing system on a [[dry lake]] bed. This cinetheodolite system could take pictures at thirty frames per second as an aircraft landed. The crew consisted of James Bittick and Jack Gettys, who began work at the site just before 08:00, with both still and motion picture cameras. According to Cooper's accounts, when they returned later that morning they reported that they had seen a "strange-looking, saucer-like" [[aircraft]] that did not make a sound either on landing or take-off.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=82–83}}

Cooper recalled that these men, who saw [[experimental aircraft]] on a regular basis as part of their job, were clearly unnerved. They explained how the saucer hovered over them, landed {{convert|50|yards}} away using three extended landing gears, and then took off as they approached for a closer look. He called a special [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] number to report such incidents, and was instructed to have their film developed, but to make no [[photographic print|prints]] of it, and send it in to the Pentagon right away in a locked courier pouch.{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=83–86}}
As Cooper had not been instructed to ''not'' look at the [[Negative (photography)|negative]]s before sending them, he did. Cooper claimed that the quality of the photography was excellent, and what he saw was exactly what Bittick and Gettys had described to him. He expected that there would be a follow-up investigation, since an aircraft of unknown origin had landed at a [[classified information|classified]] military installation, but never heard about the incident again. He was never able to track down what happened to those photos, and assumed they ended up going to the Air Force's official UFO investigation, [[Project Blue Book]], which was based at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]].{{sfn|Cooper|Henderson|2000|pp=83–86}}

Cooper claimed until his death that the U.S. government was indeed covering up information about UFOs. He pointed out that there were hundreds of reports made by his fellow pilots, many coming from military jet pilots sent to respond to [[radar]] or visual sightings.<ref name="UFO" /> In his memoirs, Cooper wrote he had seen unexplained aircraft several times during his career, and that hundreds of reports had been made.<ref name="UFO" /> In 1978, he testified before the UN on the topic.<ref name="IndyObit">{{Cite news |last=Bond |first=Peter |title=Col Gordon Cooper |newspaper=Independent |location=London |date=November 18, 2004 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/col-gordon-cooper-533604.html |access-date=October 3, 2010}}</ref> Throughout his later life, Cooper repeatedly expressed in interviews that he had seen UFOs, and described his recollections for the 2003 documentary [[Out of the Blue (2003 film)|''Out of the Blue'']].<ref name="UFO" />

==Death==
Cooper died at age 77 from [[heart failure]] at his home in [[Ventura, California]], on October 4, 2004.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gordon Cooper, Astronaut, Is Dead at 77 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/05/obituaries/gordon-cooper-astronaut-is-dead-at-77.html |date=October 5, 2004 |first=Matthew L. |last=Wald |access-date=March 9, 2004}}</ref>

A portion of Cooper's ashes (along with those of ''[[Star Trek]]'' actor [[James Doohan]] and 206 others) was launched from [[New Mexico]] on April 29, 2007, on a sub-orbital memorial flight by a privately owned [[UP Aerospace]] [[SpaceLoft XL]] [[sounding rocket]]. The capsule carrying the ashes fell back toward Earth as planned; it was lost in mountainous landscape. The search was obstructed by bad weather, but after a few weeks the capsule was found, and the ashes it carried were returned to the families.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKN1823270020070518 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521073546/http://uk.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKN1823270020070518 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 21, 2007 |title=Ashes of "Star Trek's" Scotty found after space ride |work=Reuters |date=May 18, 2007|access-date=January 20, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sherriff |first1=Lucy |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/22/scotty_ashes_found/ |title=Scotty: ashes located and heading home |date=May 22, 2007|access-date=January 20, 2008 |work=The Register}}</ref><ref name="memorial1" /> The ashes were then launched on the ''Explorers'' orbital mission on August 3, 2008, but were lost when the [[Falcon 1]] rocket failed two minutes into the flight.<ref name="memorial1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2008/08/spacex-falcon-i-fails-during-first-stage-flight/ |title=SpaceX Falcon I fails during first stage flight |work=NASASpaceflight.com |last1=Bergin |first1=Chris |date=August 2, 2008|access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref>

On May 22, 2012, another portion of Cooper's ashes was among those of 308 people included on the [[Dragon C2+|SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2]] that was bound for the [[International Space Station]].<ref name="memorial1">{{cite web |url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052212b.html |title=Pioneering astronaut's ashes ride into orbit with trailblazing private spacecraft |publisher=collectSPACE |date=May 22, 2012|access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref> This flight, using the [[Falcon 9]] launch vehicle and the [[SpaceX Dragon 1|Dragon capsule]], was uncrewed. The second stage and the burial canister remained in the initial orbit that the Dragon C2+ was inserted into, and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere a month later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heavens-above.com/SatInfo.aspx?satid=38349&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT |title=FALCON 9 R/B – Satellite Information |publisher=Heavens Above|access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
[[File:Astronaut Gordon Cooper at Patrick Air Force Base for parade DVIDS687652.jpg|thumb|right|Cooper at a parade given in his honor]]
Cooper received many awards, including the [[Legion of Merit]], the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] with [[oak leaf cluster]], the [[NASA Exceptional Service Medal]], the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]], the [[Collier Trophy]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26947987/chicago_tribune/ |title=Astronauts Have Their Day at the White House |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=October 11, 1963 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the [[Harmon Trophy]], the [[DeMolay]] Legion of Honor, the [[John F. Kennedy]] Trophy,<ref name="nasa" /> the [[Iven C. Kincheloe Award]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26948748/chicago_tribune/ |title=Cooper the Cool jockeys Faith 7—between naps |last1=Wolfe |first1=Tom |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=October 25, 1979 |page=22 |via=Newspapers.com |ref=none}}</ref> the [[Air Force Association]] Trophy, the [[John J. Montgomery Award]], the General [[Thomas D. White]] Trophy,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/22/archives/cooper-gets-white-trophy-for-us-air-achievement.html |title=Cooper Gets White Trophy For U.S. Air Achievement |date=September 22, 1964 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=21}}</ref> the [[University of Hawaiʻi]] Regents Medal, the [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] Medal, and the [[Silver Antelope Award]].<ref name="nasa" /> He received an [[Honorary degree|honorary]] [[Doctor of Science|D.Sc.]] from [[Oklahoma State University]] in 1967.<ref name="nasa" />

He was one of five Oklahoman astronauts inducted into the [[Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame]] in 1980.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28284786/the_daily_oklahoman/ |title=State Aviation Hall of Fame Inducts 9 |newspaper=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |date=December 19, 1980 |page=2S |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He was inducted into the [[International Space Hall of Fame]] in 1981,<ref name="hall1">{{cite web |url=http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=53 |title=Leroy G. Cooper Jr.: Flew the last Mercury mission, longest of program |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Space History|access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29986892/albuquerque_journal/|title=Hall to Induct Seven Space Pioneers|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|date=September 27, 1981|page=53|last1=Harbert|first1=Nancy|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and the [[U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame]] on May 11, 1990.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.astronautscholarship.org/Astronauts/l-gordon-cooper-jr/ |title=L. Gordon Cooper Jr. |publisher=Astronaut Scholarship Foundation |access-date=January 2, 2019 |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918202330/https://www.astronautscholarship.org/Astronauts/l-gordon-cooper-jr/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33222502/victoria_advocate/|title=Mercury Astronauts Dedicate Hall of Fame at Florida Site|newspaper=Victoria Advocate|location=Victoria, Texas|date=May 12, 1990|page=38|via=Newspapers.com|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

Cooper was a member of the [[Society of Experimental Test Pilots]], the [[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]], the [[American Astronautical Society]], [[Scottish Rite]] and [[York Rite]] [[Freemasonry|Masons]], [[Shriners]], the [[Royal Order of Jesters]], the [[Rotary Club]], [[Order of Daedalians]], [[Confederate Air Force]], Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles, and [[Boy Scouts of America]].<ref name="nasa">{{cite web |url=https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cooper-lg.html |title=Gordon Cooper NASA Biography |publisher=NASA JSC|access-date=May 7, 2017 |date=October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224234626/https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cooper-lg.html |archive-date=December 24, 2018}}</ref> He was a [[Master Mason]] (member of Carbondale Lodge # 82 in [[Carbondale, Colorado]]), and was given the honorary 33rd Degree by the [[Scottish Rite]] Masonic body.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freemasoninformation.com/masonic-education/famous/masonic-astronauts/ |title=Masonic Astronauts |date=March 2015 |publisher=Freemason Information |access-date=January 8, 2019}}</ref>

== Cultural influence ==
Cooper's Mercury astronaut career and appealing personality were depicted in the 1983 film ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'', in which he was portrayed by [[Dennis Quaid]]. Cooper worked closely with the production company, and every line uttered by Quaid was reportedly attributable to Cooper's recollection. Quaid met with Cooper before the casting call and learned his mannerisms. Quaid had his hair cut and dyed to match Cooper's appearance in the 1950s and 1960s.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=273–274}}

Cooper was later portrayed by Robert C. Treveiler in the 1998 [[HBO]] [[miniseries]] ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]'', and by [[Bret Harrison]] in the 2015 [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] TV series ''[[The Astronaut Wives Club]]''. That year, he was also portrayed by [[Colin Hanks]] in the Season 3 episode "Oklahoma" of ''[[Drunk History]]'', written by Laura Steinel, which retold the story of his Mercury-Atlas 9 flight.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|pp=273–274}}

While he was in space, Cooper recorded dark spots he noticed in the waters of the Caribbean. He believed these anomalies may be the locations of shipwrecks. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/coopers-treasure/about-coopers-treasure/ |title=About Cooper's Treasure |publisher=Discovery |access-date=April 29, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/coopers-treasure-darrell-miklos-discovery-gordon-cooper |magazine=Vanity Fair |title=How a NASA Astronaut's Treasure Map Could Make History |first=Laura |last=Bradley |date=April 17, 2017 |access-date=February 2, 2019}}</ref>

Cooper appeared as himself in an episode of the television series ''[[CHiPs]]'', and during the early 1980s made regular call-in appearances on chat shows hosted by [[David Letterman]], [[Merv Griffin]] and [[Mike Douglas]]. The ''[[Thunderbirds (TV series)|Thunderbirds]]'' character [[Gordon Tracy]] was named after him. He was also a major contributor to the book ''[[In the Shadow of the Moon (book)|In the Shadow of the Moon]]'' (published after his death), which offered his final published thoughts on his life and career.{{sfn|Burgess|2016|p=230}}

In 2019, National Geographic began filming a television series based on Tom Wolfe's 1979 book ''[[The Right Stuff (book)|The Right Stuff]]''. [[Colin O'Donoghue]] is portraying Gordon Cooper. While the series was set to air in spring of 2020,<ref>{{cite news |title='The Right Stuff': Colin O'Donoghue To Star In Nat Geo Series In Recasting |publisher=Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2019/07/the-right-stuff-colin-odonoghue-star-nat-geo-series-recasting-1202645692/ |access-date=July 26, 2020}}</ref> the first two episodes aired on October 9, 2020, on subscription service Disney+.

The 2019 series ''[[For All Mankind (TV series)|For All Mankind]]'' has Gordon "Gordo" Stevens, a character based in part on him.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Joseph D. |last2=Shafritz |first2=Jay M. |title=The Real Stuff: A History of NASA's Astronaut Recruitment Program |location=New York |publisher=Praeger |series=Praeger special studies |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-03-005187-6 |oclc=12052375}}
*{{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Colin | author-link=Colin Burgess (author) |title=Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America's First Astronauts |location=New York; London |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration |isbn=978-1-4419-8405-0 |oclc=747105631}}
*{{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Colin | author-link=Colin Burgess (author) |title=Faith 7: L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., and the Final Mercury Mission |location=New York; London |publisher=Springer |year=2016 |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration |isbn=978-3-319-30562-2 |oclc=1026785988}}
*{{cite book |last1=Carpenter |first1=M. Scott |author-link1=Scott Carpenter |last2=Cooper |first2=L. Gordon Jr. <!-- |author-link2=Gordon Cooper --> |last3=Glenn |first3=John H. Jr. |author-link3=John Glenn |last4=Grissom |first4=Virgil I. |author-link4=Gus Grissom |last5=Schirra |first5=Walter M. Jr. |author-link5=Wally Schirra |last6=Shepard |first6=Alan B. Jr. |author-link6=Alan Shepard |last7=Slayton |first7=Donald K. |author-link7=Donald K. Slayton |title=We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves |url=https://archive.org/details/wesevencarp00carp |url-access=registration |orig-year=Originally published 1962 |year=2010 |publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-8103-4 |oclc=429024791 |lccn=62019074 |ref=CITEREFCooper et al.2010}}
*{{cite book |last=Chaikin |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Chaikin |title=A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts |title-link=A Man on the Moon |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-14-311235-8 |oclc=958200469}}
*{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Gordon |last2=Henderson |first2=Bruce |author2-link=Bruce Henderson (author) |title=Leap of Faith |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |isbn=0-06-019416-2 |oclc=59538671}}
*{{cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Cunningham |title=The All-American Boys |year=2009 |orig-year=1977 |publisher=ipicturebooks |location=New York |isbn=978-1-87696-324-8 |oclc=1062319644}}
*{{cite book |last1=French |first1=Francis |author-link=Francis French (author) |last2=Burgess |first2=Colin |author-link2=Colin Burgess (author) |title=In the Shadow of the Moon |title-link=In the Shadow of the Moon (book) |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2007 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=978-0-8032-1128-5}}
*{{cite book |last1=Hacker |first1=Barton C. |last2=Grimwood |first2=James M. |year=1977 |title=On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini |id=SP-4203 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780012208_1978012208.pdf |access-date=March 15, 2017}}
*{{cite book |last=Shayler |first=David |title=Apollo: The Lost and Forgotten Missions |year=2002 |location=London |publisher=Springer |isbn=1-85233-575-0 |oclc=319972640}}
*{{cite book |last1=Slayton |first1=Donald K. "Deke" |author-link1=Deke Slayton |last2=Cassutt |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Cassutt |title=Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle |year=1994 |edition=1st |publisher=Forge |location=New York |isbn=0-312-85503-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/dekeusmannedspac00slay}}
*{{cite book |last1=Swenson |first1=Loyd S. Jr. |first2=James M. |last2=Grimwood |first3=Charles C. |last3=Alexander |title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/cover.htm |access-date=June 28, 2007 |series=The NASA History Series |year=1966 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |location=Washington, DC |oclc=569889 |id=NASA SP-4201 |archive-date=June 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617075825/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/cover.htm |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Neal |author-link=Neal Thompson |title=Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard, America's First Spaceman |edition=1st |date=2004 |publisher=Crown Publishers |location=New York |isbn=0-609-61001-5 |oclc=52631310 |lccn=2003015688 |url=https://archive.org/details/lightthiscandlel00thom}}
*{{cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Wolfe |title=The Right Stuff |title-link=The Right Stuff (book) |location=New York |year=1979 |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |isbn=978-0-553-27556-8 |oclc=849889526}}
*{{NASA|url=https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/cooper.htm}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.jamesoberg.com/gordon_cooper2008comments.pdf Why Did 'Gordo' Tell UFO Stories?]
*[http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/remembering_gordo.html "Remembering 'Gordo{{'"}}] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530062511/http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/remembering_gordo.html |date=May 30, 2023 }} – NASA memories of Gordon Cooper
*{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/cooperl_gordon.pdf |title= LEROY GORDON COOPER, JR. (COLONEL, USAF, RET.) NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED) | publisher=NASA |access-date=January 15, 2021 |date= October 2004}}
{{NASA Astronaut Group 1|state=expanded}}
{{Project Mercury}}
{{Gemini program}}
{{U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Spaceflight}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Gordon}}
[[Category:Gordon Cooper| ]]
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[[Category:1965 in spaceflight]]
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[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
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