Gordon Cooper (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004)

Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. was one of the seven original astronauts inProject Mercury, the first manned space effort by the United States. He was the first American to sleep in orbit, flew the longest spaceflight of the Mercury project, and was the last American to be launched alone into Earth orbit and conduct an entire solo orbital mission.

Was portrayed by Dennis Quaid in The Right Stuff.

Claimed to have seen a UFO (and believed that the government was covering up information about UFOs).