45, 60

oxygen consumption on, 50, 53

panel light problems of, 51-52

parachutes of, 61-62

sleep period on, 48, 49-50, 65

total power failure on, 52-53, 55-56

Faraday, Michael, 221, 240

Faraday cages, 220-22, 245

Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), 95-96, 168

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 246

Feoktistov, Konstantin, 139

fire extinguishers, 164-65

“fireflies,” 46-47, 65

First Global Conference on the Future, 261

fishing, 97, 106-7

509th Bomb Group, 83

525th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 80-81

flashing light experiment, 47

flight simulators, 23, 26, 35, 43, 55-56

food, 50, 63-64, 110-11, 112

Ford, Gerald, 163

Frederica, Queen Mother of Greece, 134-35

Freedom 7, 30

Freeman, Theodore, 178

Friendship 7 33-34

Fry, Dan, 247-54, 259

fuel cells, 120-24, 144, 213

Fulton, Jim, 24

Galaxy Aviation, 266

Gargarin, Yuri, 28

Geller, Uri, 220

Gemini, 33, 47, 72, 105, 135, 153

Mercury compared with, 109, 116, 120, 124, 125, 128, 138

Gemini 3 (Molly Brown), 118-19

Gemini 4, 77-78, 119, 199

Gemini 5, 109-33,213,267

delay in launching of, 115-17

“8 Days or Bust” and, 113-15, 129

film confiscated from, 130-32

fuel cell of, 120-24

launching of, 119-20

meteorite shower during, 125-26

onboard radar in, 120, 125

Panama training for, 109-13

reentry and recovery of, 127-29

wing of, 116-17

Gemini 9-A, 178

“Gemini Nine,” 109

Gemini 11, 267

Gemini 12, 177

General Accounting Office, 83

General Electric, 213, 234

General Motors (GM), 2, 140, 213

German rocket scientists, 5, 22-23, 147-60

see also Braun, Wernher von

Germany, West, Cooper in, 80-81, 148

Germany Rocket Society, 149

Gettys, Jack, 82-85

G-forces, 43, 44, 59, 60, 87

Gilmore (lion cub), 99

Gilruth, Robert, 26-27, 66-68, 114, 115, 122, 180-81

Glenn, John H., Jr., 2-4, 17-18, 21, 27, 33, 67, 72, 105, 119

Faith 7 reentry and, 57-60

“fireflies” of, 46-47, 65

1962 mission of, 4, 33-34, 35, 46-47, 49, 179

as politician, 21, 119

in return to space, 264

Glennan, T. Keith, 16-17

Goddard, Rob, 149

Goldwater, Barry, 193-94

Gordon, Richard, 267

Greece, 133-39, 181

Grenada, 196

Grissom, Betty, 165

Grissom, Mark, 165-66

Grissom, Scott, 165-66

Grissom, Virgil I. (Gus), 2-4, 17, 18, 22, 27, 159

Apollo 1 and, 161-66, 168

in Gemini mission, 118-19

in second suborbital mission, 30-33, 152, 179

gymnasts, considered for space travel, 56-57

Haile Selassie, 140-42

Ham (chimpanzee), 27-28

Hangar S, 1-2, 37, 38, 118

Hansen, Dowd, 242-46

happily-married requirement, 15-16, 71, 179

Happy Bottom Riding Club, 100, 101

Harz Mountains, 151

Hastie, B. J., 86

Hawaii, 61, 64

Hawaii, University of, 61, 102-3

heat shield, 34, 45, 60

Herd, George Washington, 69

Herd, Hattie Lee, see Cooper, Hattie Lee Herd

Herd, Mrs. George Washington, 71

Hewlett, William, 78

Himmler, Heinrich, 150

Hitler, Adolf, 150-51

Holmgren, Scott, 202

House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 24, 237

“How to Build a Tesla Transmitter” (King), 237

“Huntsville Gang,” 153

Hynek, J. Allen, 194-98, 200

Imboten, Otis, 186

Ingersoll, J. L., 87

“In Search of Gordon Cooper’s UFOs,” 75-76

instrument panels, 21, 42, 43, 50, 51-52, 62, 123-24

inventors, amateur, 211-13

ionosphere, 241, 242

Jacobs, Al, 228

James, Bennett, 231-32, 262

Johnson, Lady Bird, 113

Johnson, Lyndon B., 72, 114, 131, 133, 141, 153, 163, 167

Johnson Space Center, 265

Judge Advocate General (JAG), 94, 101

Junkers bombers, 153-54

Jupiter missiles, 148

Kearsarge, USS, 61-64, 70

Kennedy, John F., Jr., 99

Kennedy, John F. (President), 26, 39, 70-71, 158-59, 161

death of, 131, 159

Moon landing and, 30, 71, 121, 152-53, 159, 162, 173

Kenya, 143-45

Kenyatta, Jomo, 143-44

Keutner, Joaquin (Jack), 153-55

KGB, 133, 139

Kiko Rock, 143

Korean War, 152

Kraft, Chris, 58-59, 123

Kranz, Gene, 165, 183

Lady Bird, 113

Lake Champlain, USS, 129

land recoveries, Soviet, 137-39

Langley Air Force Base, 15, 19-27

Launch Control, 114, 116, 164, 165

LeMay, Curtis, 182-83

Leonov, Aleksey, 134-40, 181

Liberty Bell 7, 31-33, 118

Life, 67, 71

Lindbergh, Charles A., 69, 71, 167

Linde, Greg, 201, 208

Loring Air Force Base, 191, 192

Lovelace Clinic (later Mayo Clinic), 12-13

Lovell, Jim, 76, 171-72, 177

Lowe, Nancy, 19-20

MacArthur, Douglas, 89

McClellan Air Force Base, 86

McDivitt, James, 77-78, 119, 172

McDonnell, Jim, 122

McDonnell Aircraft, 8, 41-42, 122

McNab, Robert, 86-87

Malmstrom Air Force Base, 191, 192

manned missions, U.S., 67

delay of, 27-28

first, 28-30, 32, 38

Manned Space Center, 114, 177

Marconi, Guglielmo, 235, 240

Mariner 4, 174

Marines, U.S., 63, 67, 179

Cooper’s enlistment in, 101-2

Mars, 148, 174-75, 263-64

Marshall Space Flight Center, 147-48

Masai warriors, 144

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 51

Mau Mau uprising, 143

Mayflower (presidential yacht), 93

mechanical astronauts, 28

Mercury (winged messenger), 10

Mercury Control Center, 25, 36

Faith 7 flight and, 41-43, 45, 47, 49, 52-60, 72

Mercury Project, see Project Mercury

“Mercury Seven,” 2-4, 16-39, 119

as CCGGSSS, 2

control system debate of, 20

defense contractors visited by, 19

jobs divided up by, 20-23

Mercury spacecraft:

backup systems in, 25-26

Ham’s problems in, 27-28

window in, 45-46

Mercury stamp, 19

meteorites, 125-26

Mexico, undersea treasure hunting in, 185-90

MIG-15s, 80

Minot Air Force Base, 192

Miramar Naval Air Station, 87

Mission Control Center, 114, 116, 121, 125, 128

Moon landing, 109, 263

Apollo program and, 72, 119, 158, 162, 169-73, 179

JFK and, 30, 71, 121, 152-53, 159, 162, 173

national debate about, 166-67

Moonport, 158, 159

Morgan, J. P, 235

movies, 3-D, 212-13

Muchea Tracking Station, 75-76

Multiple Wave Oscillator, 258-59

N-l rockets, 172

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1-6, 129, 131, 134, 152, 155-59, 263

astronaut-pilot qualifications of, 9-10, 15-16

Congressional opposition and, 174-76

Cooper’s departure from, 182, 183, 202

F-102s loaned to, 24-25

flight schedule advanced by, 35-36

House investigation of, 24

innovations of, 19

JFK’s prediction of Moon landing and, 30, 121

Marshall Space Flight Center of, 147-48

public relations of, 5, 34, 71

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (cont.) space shuttle transmission and, 230-32, 262

UFOs and, 78-79

Washington headquarters of, 10-12

National Space Institute, 159-60

Naval Academy Prep School, 102

navigation, 98, 190

in space, 51, 57, 127, 128, 190

Navy, U.S., 12, 35, 67,