Gordon Cooper

Leroy Gordon Cooper was an American astronaut who was born on March 6, 1927, in Oklahoma. Before he became an astronaut, Cooper was an Air Force pilot.

Cooper became an astronaut in 1959. He was one of the original Mercury astronauts. He has spent over 224 hours in space on 2 spaceflights.

Cooper piloted the last Mercury mission in 1963. He spent over 34 hours in space. He was also the first American astronaut to actually sleep in space!

In 1965, Cooper commanded Gemini 5. This mission was showed that astronauts could survive in space for 8 days. This is how long it takes to reach the moon.



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