honorable Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., also noted as Gordo Cooper, (March 6, 1927 October 4, 2004) was an American astronaut. Cooper was one of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned-space effort by the United States. He flew the longest spaceflight of the Mercury project, was the first American to sleep in orbit and has been noted as the last American (thus far) to launch alone into earth orbit and conduct an entire solo orbital mission.
