Gordon Cooper was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts selected by NASA in 1959. He piloted the final Mercury mission, Faith 7, in 1963, spending more than a day in orbit and becoming the last American to fly a solo orbital spaceflight. Cooper later commanded Gemini 5 in 1965, setting a new spaceflight endurance record at the time, and his two missions combined made him one of the most experienced astronauts of the early American space program.
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