NASA Confirms Gordon Cooper, Astronaut, Has Died

[pelagius]

CNN has this on their breaking news banner:

www.cnn.com

Details to follow.

Astronauts were my first heroes. Whenever somebody badmouths "gubbermint" programs I bring up those early space flights and, 9 times out of 10, the freeper and I start getting misty-eyed together about the wonder of those days.

[BootinUp]

1. Gordo, the best pilot I ever saw.

:)

[maddogesq]

4. That book/movie made me laugh, cry, and feel American.

"Gus? An astronaut named Gus?" What's yer middle name Gus?"

"Ivan."

Says it all.

R.I.P. Gordo.

[Gabi Hayes]

29. really....back before Tom Wolfe's ego destroyed his talent

one of the best books I've ever read

and Dennis Quaid was fantastic as Gordo in the movie, which was almost as good as the book....one of the first movies I saw on super duper videotape.....BETAMAX, when they had the excellent sound, before VHS

earthshattering effects

wiping away tear for him and the other three Mercs who've passed into the great beyond

rest in the heavens, men

DAMN...why does the thought of that COWARDLY AWOL cretin have to jump in and spoil it

I so hope we never hear his name again, starting in 29 days

[Jack from Charlotte]

36. The book and the movie both.....

were great. And it's very hard, IMO, to make a good movie from a book. But they were grat and had a great music tract, too.

I remeber a funny line someone had when the movie came out. It was pre 1984 election, I think. And John Glenn was being talked up as a candidate for Pres. Some asked if the movie, "Right Stuff" had changed there opinion about who should run for President. The response was, "Why?" Is Chuck Yeager running for President."

[Jack from Charlotte]

35. F*ckin' A, Bubba............

[pelagius]

2. Main article is up!

And can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/gordon.cooper/index.html

[steely]

3. Rest in Peace, Gordon

These guys were my heroes too - major influence on my career choice.
<shakes head in wonder>

[Minstrel Boy]

5. "Astronauts were my first heroes."

Mine too.

I feel fortunate to have been a young boy during such an adventure.

Billy Bragg, "The Space Race Is Over"

When I was young I told my mum
I'm going to walk on the Moon someday
Armstrong and Aldrin spoke to me
From Houston and Cape Kennedy
And I watched the Eagle landing
On a night when the Moon was full
And as it tugged at the tides, I knew deep inside
I too could feel its pull
I lay in my bed and dreamed I walked
On the Sea of Tranquillity
I knew that someday soon we'd all sail to the moon
On the high tide of technology
But the dreams have all been taken
And the window seats taken too
And 2001 has almost come and gone
What am I supposed to do?
Now that the space race is over
It's been and it's gone and I'll never get to the moon
Because the space race is over
And I can't help but feel we've all grown up too soon
Now my dreams have all been shattered
And my wings are tattered too
And I can still fly but not half as high
As once I wanted to
Now that the space race is over
It's been and it's gone and I'll never get to the moon
Because the space race is over
And I can't help but feel we've all grown up too soon
My son and I stand beneath the great night sky
And gaze up in wonder
I tell him the tale of Apollo And he says
Why did they ever go?
It may look like some empty gesture
To go all that way just to come back
But don't offer me a place out in cyberspace
Cos where in the hell's that at?
Now that the space race is over
It's been and it's gone and I'll never get out of my room
Because the space race is over
And I can't help but feel we're all just going nowhere.

[Gabi Hayes]

30. amen, minstrel boy

not many heroes abound....they're a small sample....never see their likes again

btw, I'm buycitgo....had login problems; changed over

look what Reagan did to the space program

very very sad right now

going to rent the movie this weekend

Shepard

Cooper

Grissom

who's the fourth one up there?

spirit guides, all

[FlemingsGhost]

6. Now free to truly explore the universe.

Rest in Peace.

[gadem04]

8. R.I.P. Gus

It goes without saying.

[classof56]

20. And may I say to you...Welcome to DU!

Very glad to have you aboard.

[gadem04]

22. Much Thanks

to y'all

[classof56]

18. Free to explore the universe...that's beautiful!

Many years ago, after my only sister (and best friend), a truly "free spirit", died in a traffic accident, I wrote a story about her that I ended, "She is now free to roam the universe...and she doesn't even need bus fare." She was my hero, as were the seven original astronauts. May they all find a place to meet and celebrate life together!

[boneygrey]

7. Damn I hate to hear this

Will have to pull out my DVD of "The Right Stuff".


GO HOT DOG GO!!!!!!!!:cry:

[Ilsa]

16. Funny, I was thinking about that movie earlier today

and I don't have it in our collection. Time to order it.

[Burma Jones]

9. Have a Good Trip...................

and thanks

[FLSurfer]

10. I don't have the words to express

how sad this makes me feel.
Gordon Cooper was my hero.
I hope there is an event at NASA for him.

[classof56]

19. Welcome to DU, FLSurfer

The world is a better place because of men like Gordo. May their legacy continue!

DEFEAT BUSH!!

[Radius]

11. God Speed sir.

Fuckin' A, Bubba!, a real hero.

Man I'm really sad about this.

[StupidFOX]

12. Good man, good life

True American hero.

[mwdem]

13. Geez, Gordo, rest in peace.

bummer.

[Pale_Rider]

14. Coincidence?

That Gordo should die on the day that SpaceShipOne captured the X Prize?





God speed Gordo ...

[boneygrey]

15. I'd say it is fitting n/t

[fryguy]

17. well said

amen

[5thGenDemocrat]

32. Here's another coincidence

Sputnik was launched on October 4 (1957), too. You could look it up, but it's also my birthday so take my word on it.
John
"Who's the best pilot you ever saw? Huh? Come on -- who's the best pilot? You're looking at him."
"The Right Stuff" is one of my favorite movies ever.

[Norbert]

21. Who else watched these spaceflights in their classrooms.

The spaceflights by the Mercury Seven was big news. The teachers at my grade school would rearrange class schedules so we could watch the entire flight which, relatively speaking wasn't all that long. I was awestruck watching on an old black and white TV the candle being lit and taking a couragous astronaut into space.

Shepard, Carpentar, Grissom, John Glenn, Shirra, Slaton (you didn't make the flight but I admired you just the same), and Gordon Cooper, they were my heros as was the man pictured on my avatar who put the space program in high gear. These were wonderful times where everything was possible.

Godspeed on your final flight, Gordo.

[Jack from Charlotte]

37. I did. They wheeled the TV's into my 2nd grade class at Miami

Norland Elementary School.

[OKNancy]

23. My mom just wrote me an e-mail, she went to school

with Gordon Cooper in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She said he was quiet and smart. She worked on a science project with him in junior high and she said he was "on task" and efficient.

[whalerider55]

24. when i was a kid....

in the sixties, i was entranced by the space program. i used to write them all, asking questions about space travel and their jobs; i was completely awestuck. alot of them, cooper included wrote back, or sent on autographed pix, which i have set aside as legacy for the kids.

and for all my war-protesting, civil rights demonstrating, war on poverty democratic advocacy, i never lost my love for the space program. i always believed that the benefits financially and spiritually paid off in dividends for america that you both count and feel. and i always did what i could to press my reps to keep the program alive.

godspeed, gordo.

whalerider55

[Tangledog]

25. I started thinking about We Seven...

...and yeah, I started crying. I just hope people in future generations have a chance to feel how I felt knowing they were up there and doing things to dream about.

I never quite stopped dreaming. They are why.

[LibertyLover]

26. RIP Gordo

I still remember my mom dragging my old black and white Emerson "portable" tv into my elementary school class to watch the Mercury flights. It was so exciting - T minus 1 minute and counting. I wanted to be an astronaut so badly, but at the time women weren't being accepted into the program and you really had to be good in science, which meant math and that meant it was No Go for me. Oh well. Fly free Gordo Cooper and thank you.

[mitchum]

27. God speed to a real American hero

[mike_c]

28. flaps up, Gordon Cooper.....

Damn, I'm sorry to see you go.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. Go with the stars, Gordo...

~sniff~ :cry:

[truthisfreedom]

33. would have liked to go to the moon, but it wasn't in the stars. RIP GORDO

we owe you one trip to the moon, buddy.

[Dem2theMax]

34. RIP Gordon - from a girl who always had stars in her eyes and

wanted so badly to go to the moon. Never happened for me, or for Gordo for that matter, but I bet the view he has tonight beats them all. Astronauts always were and always will be my hero's. Had a good cry over this today. And for some strange reason I spent the early hours of this morning over at NASA.gov - I must have logged off shortly before the announcement of his death. I sure hope those men knew what they meant to people like us, the one's posting in here today. Sounds like we all have the same respect and affection for them. When you are a little kid and you have dreams, those dreams don't seem to get much bigger than going up into space. sigh. :cry: