Wetass Wake–RIP Gordo: Gordon Cooper, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, died yesterday at the ripe old age of 77. Cooper was a true good ol’ boy, born in Oklahoma and full of The Right Stuff. Gordo’s first Mercury flight, in 1963, was the last solo flight by an American astronaut, and he orbited the Earth for more than 34 hours. His second mission, a two-man job in August 1965, set a space endurance record of almost 191 hours, and demonstrated that astronauts could endure a mission to the Moon. Cooper was the first human to sleep in space, and the first to be featured on live television from his orbiting spaceship. According to the NYT, Cooper was as cool as they come:

“Toward the end of his Mercury mission, the automatic system that was supposed to control his descent failed, and he had to take control manually. When Mr. Cooper, then an Air Force major, was asked by flight controllers if he was in position for firing his retrorockets, he replied, “right on the old bazoo.” He was hailed for making a bull’s-eye landing, 7,000 yards from a waiting aircraft carrier.”

Cooper never got picked for an Apollo mission, a decision he blamed on “in-house politics.” He also wrote a book claiming he encountered UFOs during his years as a test pilot, and saying he believed in extra-terrestrial intelligence. Hmmm. He’s been up there, so maybe…



“Uhh, Mission Control, everything looks okay, but Gordo says he’s got another life form in there with him, and he keeps calling it Alf…”

(Photo: AP)