Who's the best pilot you ever saw?

Gordo Cooper died today.




He was the fourth Mercury program astronaut to pass away, and the first man to spend so much time in space that he actually fell asleep up there. He's also part of the last group of Americans in history (the Mercury Seven) I can think of as unqualifiedly heroic. With all the news about the Ansari X prize, and the real possibility that Leah and I, or at the very least Max might someday get into space I have been thinking about space travel alot lately. Gordo Cooper seems like the first guy to want to go to space not just for fame and achievement, but simply because of how cool it must have been to do so. Goodnight, Gordo.