Word: schirras
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...astronaut did manage to jolt them with another discovery. As he passed over South America, Cooper caught a glimpse of a thin, barely visible rust-colored layer roughly 70 miles higher than the green stratum he had been searching for. His sighting confirmed an earlier report by Astronaut Wally Schirra, and scientists now suspect the green veil may be topped by a red one made up of photochemically stimulated atomic oxygen...
...flame. There was never any doubt about the success of the launching, and as he soared into space, Gordon Cooper, the most reticent of the astronauts, was exultant. "Boy, this is beautiful," he radioed. "Boy oh boy. It looks that pretty. Boy oh boy." On the ground. Cape Communicator Schirra was also elated. "You got a real sweet trajectory, Gordo," he advised. "You're right smack dab in the middle of the plot." Little more could be said: Cooper's velocity, programmed at an ideal of 25,715 ft. per second, was 25,716; his heading was just...
...other astronaut, Cooper displayed his bitterness at being passed over on earlier space flights. Yet when NASA doctors grounded Astronaut Donald Slayton because of a heart flutter, Cooper threatened to quit the program. After the fifth U.S. man-in-space flight, a superb six-orbit job by Wally Schirra, there were reports that last week's flight would be flown by Alan Shepard. Schirra, a close friend of Cooper's, put an end to that: he threatened to raise a public ruckus if Cooper were bypassed...
...decision last year to ground Astronaut Donald K. ("Deke") Slayton because of a reported heart flutter. Cooper offended high NASA officials by vehemently protesting the decision, threatened to quit if Slayton were not reinstated. He was persuaded not to 'bail out of the program by Astronaut Walter Schirra, who made the near-perfect six-orbit flight in October...
...When Schirra learned that Cooper's chances for the big flight had been endangered because of his defense of Slayton, he made it clear that the slight (5 ft. 9 in., 150 Ibs.) former fighter pilot was his choice for the mission. What was more, Schirra, an outspoken man himself, threatened to take Cooper's case to the press if Cooper were ruled...