Gordon cooper was an American test pilot and astronaut. He was born on march 6, 1927. He was one of the seven astronauts from the mercury mission. He was the last one to go on this mission but was in the space for the most time. He orbit space 22 times in this mission. He was the first astronaut to sleep in the mission and during the countdown. During this mission there where many problems but he successfully to manual control and got the a safe reentry. He went to space for the second time for the Gemini mission. In this mission they were in space for 8 days to make a new record for the most time in space. He was also assigned as a Back up commander for Gemini 12, Apollo 10 and Commander in Apollo 13 but was replaced by other astronauts in the end. He died in the age of 77 because of a Heart failure on October 4, 2004.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Cooper