Streaking through space at 17,157 m.p.h.. Air Force Major Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. ate, slept, exchanged banter with ground-bound fellow astronauts, coolly conducted scientific experiments.

Gordon Cooper, who was the youngest and perhaps cockiest member of the original seven Mercury astronauts and set the space endurance record that helped clear the way for the first moon landing ...

Gordon Cooper completed his 22-or bit space mission ... napped during his second orbit, and slept for around 7 1/2 hours during the night. At Cape Canaveral, space agency officials were guarded ...

In 1963, Gordon Cooper piloted the longest and last Mercury spaceflight ... He orbited Earth 22 times and slept as he spun around the globe. He returned to earth, emerging from the capsule. His ...

In 1963, Gordon Cooper piloted the longest and last Mercury ... He orbited Earth 22 times and slept as he spun around the globe. He returned to earth, emerging from the capsule.

Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury astronauts who pioneered human space exploration, died Monday at his home in Ventura, NASA officials said in a statement. He was 77. “As one of the ...