GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
GORDON COOPER

Father, we thank you especially for letting me fly this flight. Thank you for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that you have created. Help us in our future space endeavors.

Gordon 'Gordo' Cooper

Prayer recorded during Mercury-Atlas 9/Faith 7 mission, over the Indian Ocean on his 17th orbit, 16 May 1963. Quoted in Space: Under Whose Moon?, TIME magazine, 31 May 1963.

We all feel that there's a lot more to this thing than just being Number One, though we all want that. The Number One man will be the tool of our close-knit team. We're just getting started here with space programs that will continue as long as man can pick himself up and go. And we're all going to get a chance to make some contribution. There will be a lot of firsts: the first man on a ballistic firing, the first man into orbit, the first man to orbit the Moon, the first man to land on the Moon. The public enthusiasm in this thing so far has surprised me. If we don't keep moving, maybe the Russians are going to win a few of these blue ribbons.

Gordon Cooper

I’ve the Normal Desire to Go a Little Higher, LIFE magazine, 14 September 1959.