Gordon Cooper, Original Project Mercury Astronaut, Dies at 77
686386
L. Gordon Cooper Jr., one of the seven astronauts selected by the US space program for NASA&#39;s first space project in 1959, has died at his Ventura, California home.
479177
Mercury program astronaut Gordon Cooper was remembered Friday by NASA officials and fellow space pioneers as "not too bad of a pilot, but a heck of a good astronaut."    Cooper, who on the final flight of the Mercury program became the first American to spend more than 24 hours in space, died of natural causes Oct. 4 at his home in Ventura, Calif...
763417
Ever since two Gemini spacecraft met up high above Earth in 1965, the U.S. space program has used astronauts for every rendezvous in orbit -- with other spacecraft, satellites, space stations or the Hubble Space Telescope.
628235
Dr. Arthur Kornberg, who won the 1959 Nobel Prize for figuring out how DNA is built, died on Friday of respiratory failure at the age of 89, Stanford University Hospital in California said.
341935
The mother of a U.S. astronaut who has been in space since October was killed when a freight train hit her car at a railroad crossing near Chicago, police said on Thursday.
418150
Veteran stage, movie and television actor and singer Howard Keel has died of colon cancer at his California home. He was 85. His most lucrative stint was on television&#39;s &quot;Dallas
412141
Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts who helped pioneer human space exploration, piloting the last of the Mercury missions and the troubled Gemini 5 flight, died on Monday.
454798
The last of the seven Project Mercury astronauts who pioneered U.S. space exploration in the 1960s remembered one of their own as a fearless pilot with the "right stuff" in an emotional memorial ceremony on Friday for Gordon Cooper.
87857
Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts who helped pioneer human space exploration, piloting the last of the Mercury missions and the troubled Gemini 5 flight, died on Monday. He was 77.
362025
The longest serving astronaut in history, John W. Young, announced his retirement on Tuesday. Mr. Young, who has spent 42 years at the National Aeronautics and Space
745818
The last of the seven Project Mercury  astronauts who pioneered U.S. space exploration in the 1960s  remembered one of their own as a fearless pilot with the "right  stuff" in an emotional memorial ceremony on Friday for Gordon  Cooper.
148406
The surviving astronauts of the Mercury 7 offered tribute Friday to compatriot Gordon &quot;Gordo&quot; Cooper, who died Oct. 4. At a memorial gathering at Johnson Space Center in Houston, former US Sen.
44262
By Diana Moskovitz, The Miami Herald  May 27--After years as a NASA engineer, Earl Driscoll left the space program and never looked back. He was content taking over the family janitorial business -- a job where his mistakes didn't cost lives.
583576
Pioneering NASA engineer Maxime Faget, who designed the Project Mercury capsule that carried the first U.S. astronauts into space and worked on every subsequent manned spacecraft including the space shuttle, has died at the age of 83, NASA said on Sunday.
223497
NASA knows Columbia sustained damage on liftoff. But engineers' concerns get swept aside by mission control, at the cost of seven lives. Compiled by Tony Long.
701086
A former dormitory converted to classrooms at the Pensacola Naval Air Station was dedicated Friday to two Columbia astronauts who were among the seven who died in the shuttle disaster Feb. 1, 2003.
648887
Guillermo Soehnlein grew up stargazing and dreaming of space travel. He's the founder of  the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs, which launched its first chapter in Washington in April 2003. -Ellen McCarthy