NASA honors the life and pioneering achievements of original Mercury
astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) during a memorial
service at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15, at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.
NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, long-time associates and family friends will pay
tribute to Cooper. He was 77 when he passed away at his home in Ventura, Calif.
Cooper was one of the first seven U.S. astronauts. He flew the sixth and final
flight of Project Mercury in May 1963. Cooper also flew the third flight of the
Gemini Program with Charles (Pete) Conrad, Jr. in August 1965.
Due to limited seating, the general public is invited to watch the service on
NASA TV and the agency’s homepage on the Web at: www.nasa.gov. The memorial
service is in JSC’s Teague Auditorium. A tree planting ceremony will follow at
the nearby Memorial Tree Grove.
Media planning to attend the memorial should contact the JSC Newsroom at:
281/483-5111 before 6 p.m. EDT Thursday for access.
NASA TV is available in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, Transponder 9C, C-Band,
located at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization
is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA
Television is available on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, located at 137 degrees
west longitude. Frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is
monaural at 6.80 MHz.
Additional information about Cooper and NASA’s early space achievements is
available on the Internet at:
