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with twitter 1 of 4 Gordon Cooper Jr., one of America's first
seven astronauts, died on October 4, 2004 at his home in
Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old. Cooper piloted the sixth
and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded
Gemini 5. (UPI Photo/NASA) | License Photo  Leroy Gordon Cooper,
Jr. (March 6, 1927–October 4, 2004), also known as Gordo Cooper,
was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot and NASA
astronaut. Cooper was one of the seven original astronauts in
Project Mercury, the first manned space effort by the United
States. He was the first American to sleep in orbit, flew the
longest spaceflight of the Mercury project, and was the last
American to be launched alone into Earth orbit and conduct an
entire solo orbital mission.  Cooper was born in Shawnee,
Oklahoma. He grew up there and later moved to Murray, Kentucky
where he attended public schools. He was active in the Boy
Scouts of America and achieved the second hi