Air Force astronaut dies Published Oct. 6, 2004 SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- Retired Col. Gordon Cooper, the NASA astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died Oct. 4 at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old. The youngest of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Colonel Cooper's flight in his Faith 7 capsule stretched the capabilities of the spacecraft to the limits. The mission, May 15 and 16, 1963, lasted more than 34 hours and 22 orbits. That was more than three times the longest U.S. human space flight until that time, and far exceeded the initial design capability of the capsule. During his flight, Colonel Cooper also became the first astronaut to sleep in space. Colonel Cooper was born March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Okla. He served in the Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then attended the University of Hawaii where he was commissioned an Army second lieutenant. In 1949 he was called to active duty and completed pilot training in the Air Force. From 1950 to 1954, he was a fighter pilot in Germany. Colonel Cooper earned a bachelor's degree at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956, then completed test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He served as a test pilot there until he was selected as an astronaut. Besides his two space flights, Colonel Cooper was backup command pilot of Gemini 12, launched in November 1965. He also served as backup command pilot for Apollo 10, which flew in May 1969. Colonel Cooper left NASA and retired from the Air Force on July 31, 1970. (Courtesy of NASA)