Mercury Ascendant

Bookends. That is the way today has been for the spirit of human adventure.

Test pilot Brian Binnie took the privately funded SpaceShip One into the edge of space at an altitude of 62 miles. The $10 million dollar X-Prize was claimed by the team lead by designer Burt Rutan, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and the rest of the team for sending a privately funded spaceship into space twice in less than 2 weeks. The mighty United States government can't launch people into space now, yet private individuals on a comparatively shoestring budget are getting people to the edge of the forever night. Private enterprise paving the way for the research to get humanity into space faster and cheaper than ever before. A small step, yes; however, the greatest journeys begin with those first baby steps.

Gordon Cooper was one of the Mercury Seven. When the United States government was trying to see if it could even launch anything into orbit Gordon Cooper was one of the first men selected to try in April 1959. We had no idea how people would react to being in space. We had no idea if we could get the small Mercury capsule into space. We had no idea if we could actually get it and the man who piloted it back. With all those unknowns Gordon Cooper decided it was worth the risk. He had the right stuff.

He piloted the last one-man Mercury flight in May 1963. For a little while he flew farther, faster, and higher than anyone before him. In 1965, Gordon Cooper's last spaceflight was in the 2 man Gemini capsule that proved humans could last long enough in the weightlessness of space to reach the moon. His cocky, swaggering legend was forever immortalized in the both book and movie format: The Right Stuff.

Gordon Cooper, age 77, died today in his home today. Once again the legend is proving he has the right stuff. Once again Gordon Cooper is flying in the forever night. This time he simply has a different co-pilot.