Gemini 5 Astronauts Receive Exceptional Service Medal

This photograph by Joseph J. Scherschel shows President Lyndon B. Johnson awarding the Exceptional Service Medal to Col. Gordon Cooper, astronaut, in the Oval Office. Cooper was the command pilot for the Gemini 5 mission (August 21-29, 1965), which broke the Soviet record for spaceflight duration. Cooper was one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts and flew the Mercury-Atlas 9, "Faith 7," craft in May 1963 during a roughly 34 hour mission that orbited the earth 22 times. The Gemini 5 mission would be Cooper's last before retirement. He was accompanied to the White House by his wife and two daughters.