Even though the book and movie The Right Stuff focused a lot on pilot Chuck Yeager (which is not a condemnation of the book, just an observation), one of the stand out characters was Gordon "Gordo" Cooper.
His optimism, humor, supreme coolness under stress, and yes, perhaps cockyness (when asked who was the greatest fighter pilot he ever saw he always replied, with a smile "You're looking at him") shined like the sun blazing into his Mercury capsule's window. Cooper, age 77, died yesterday at his home in California.
