Oklahoma Boy Goes to Space
NASA gave the enthusiastic Oklahoma boy some simple instructions: Go into space alone, survive, and while you’re there, study zero gravity’s long term effects on the human body. Well, as far as the public was concerned, this was the mission. But not everything goes according to plan…
Photo by Everett Collection / Shutterstock
The Mercury Project started off excitingly well. For about 35 hours between May 15th and 16th, Cooper was orbiting the Earth. He was the first astronaut to ever sleep in space. Things seemed to be going according to plan. But in the midst of this huge accomplishment, a disaster almost struck. Technical difficulties happen all the time, but when someone is in outer space, it can be extremely dangerous.