The Angry Astronaut

While officials squabbled 'about the trip to the moon, the least known of the astronauts was tapped for what may be the last flight of Project Mercury. Next April Air Force Captain Leroy Gordon ("Gordo") Cooper, 35, is scheduled to make an all-day, 18-orbit trip.

Cooper nearly lost his chance to go into orbit when he became enraged at the decision last year to ground Astronaut Donald K. ("Deke") Slayton because of a reported heart flutter. Cooper offended high NASA officials by vehemently protesting the decision, threatened to quit if Slayton were not reinstated. He was persuaded not to 'bail out of the program by Astronaut Walter Schirra, who made the near-perfect six-orbit flight in October.

When Schirra learned that Cooper's chances for the big flight had been endangered because of his defense of Slayton, he made it clear that the slight (5 ft. 9 in., 150 Ibs.) former fighter pilot was his choice for the mission. What was more, Schirra, an outspoken man himself, threatened to take Cooper's case to the press if Cooper were ruled out.

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