[laughs]
- That's good. I like this moustache.
Hi. My name is Laura--
My name is Laura Steinel.
And today we're talking about Gordon Cooper.
The year is 1963.
Gordon Cooper, he's this military test pilot
from Oklahoma.
NASA had just begun.
And so, he was one of seven astronauts
chosen for Project Mercury.
Also, really chill.
He was like, Please, call me Gordo.
Don't call me Gordon.
I'm not that official.
Right? And so, all these space missions go off
without a hitch, and NASA's like,
We've done really well. Congrats, NASA.
And they're patting themselves on the back.
And Gordo's like, Guys, I totally get it.
Like, that's really cool, like, pats on the back.
But if you want to send a man to the moon,
you should maybe see if someone could
be in space for, I don't know, 24 hours.
And NASA's like, Ugh, yeah I guess, Gus.
Yeah, sure, Gus.
- Gordo. - Oh, [bleep], sorry.
I'm an idiot. - That's okay.
- All right, all right. - You're fine.
- So, Gordo goes on the launch pad.
NASA'd be like, Hey, just like, really quick...
Like, don't touch anything.
NASA would completely control everything.
It was so bad that the astronauts felt like, um,
spam in a can. - [chuckles]
- Is what they referred to themselves as.
So, anyway, he launches into space and it's like,
Three, two, one, blast off.
[mimics rocket firing]
Are you shooting that... Okay, good.
He gets up into space and everything's cool.
He's like, I'm orbiting the [bleep] Earth.
Oh, I'm sorry, I wa-- - You can swear.
- No, my mom-- I try not--
I'm not-- I'm gonna try not to swear.
So, he's in space.
He sends back the first TV images of a human,
back to Earth.
He has a little powdered roast beef dinner.
He's just having a ball.
So, he takes a nap.
The first guy to ever sleep in space.
He wakes up and he's like, It's good to be Gordo.
And then, he's like, Oh, [bleep], no, it's not.
Because...beep, beep.
Oh...[bleep].
I have no stabilization unit.
Everyone in Mission Control is freaking out.
They're like, Oh, God.
This doesn't look good.
And Gus Grissom is like, Bro, I love you.
I'm gonna tell your wife you're a hero.
Gordo's like, No, stop it.
I'm gonna take control over the spaceship.
Gus is like, You're about to do something none of--
no one has ever done before.
And Gordo's like, Yeah, no, I know.
So, just shut the [bleep] up, Gus.
I've got control.
He starts to take over manual control.
But, at that moment, he loses radio signal with Gus Grissom.
And so, he gets a radio signal
over to his friend John Glenn,
who's on the recovery boat over in Japan.
Then he's like, John Glenn, hey.
It's me, Gordo.
Um, I have absolutely no power in my spacecraft.
And I just wanna get back home
because I'm a really chill guy. It's me, Gordo.
And he's like, Okay, here's what we're gonna do.
And so, together they go through this checklist.
Uh, put this thing up.
Like, press this button.
There's all these things he needs to do.
But then Gordo's like, Oh, [bleep].
Beep. And his carbon dioxide meter's going off.
And it's like, Beep, beep, you're [bleep].
And he's like, Oh, my God, you're right.
I'm totally [bleep] [bleep].
But I--no, but he's chiller than that.
No, hold on. He's way calmer than that.
John Glenn, look, my carbon dioxide meter's
going off and, uh...
It's like 100 degrees in my cabin.
Which means he's [bleep] dying.
But he's not being a Debbie Downer about it.
And he's like, I need to get to Earth.
But, like, manual reentry had never been done before.
So, if he enters the Earth's atmosphere too steep,
he's gonna blow up.
So, he says, Okay.
There's the Big Dipper. There's the Little Dipper.
Gemini...
He draws an axis on the window
and uses the constellations as his constant.
And he says, This is going to be my angle
at which I can enter Earth's atmosphere.
Which I think is... pretty incredible.
So, John Glenn is like, Okay.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six--
Gordo's like, Let's just, like, do it, I'm ready.
So, he fires, uh...
[grunts]
Uh, what does this mean?
[laughs]
- [chuckling] - What's it called when there's
fire coming out of stuff?
What--when it's like a fire...
[groans]
[laughs]
He fires the rockets.
[mimics rocket blast]
He had a $5 wristwatch, and that's what he used
to figure out how long to fire his rockets.
[mimics rocket blast]
Gordo is like, I'm entering Earth's atmosphere!
[bleep] bravo to me!
- Wait. Oh.
[both laugh]
- And he splashes down.
And he has the most accurate splash-down, ever,
in...NASA history.
He's like, so chill.
He's like, Hey, guys, I made it.
I'm not surprised. It's me, Gordo.
Big whoop.
Gordo changed the game.
- Great.
- He had a $5 wristwatch.