Only four days after we lost Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, Max Faget (pronounced French-style, "Fah-zhay"), the man who designed his capsule, has died.

[Update on Monday morning]

Here's a profile of the man by Jim Oberg from almost ten years ago.

Rodney Dangerfield
Gordo Cooper
Max Faget

The Banshee has taken his third.

As Max was a fellow submariner I offer this verse of the Navy Hymn;

Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arm doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
O hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril in the deep.

Sailors, rest your oars...

Rodney Dangerfield
Gordo Cooper
Max Faget

Tonight...Christopher Reeve

Faget was born in British Honduras, and I was pleased -- when I was in Belize City in 1996 -- to find that the restaurant in the hotel was named "Maxime's" in his honor. A fairly basic hotel restaurant, but with a couple of photographs of Faget's handiwork placed quite subtly, and a nice one-para bio on the back of the menu claiming Belize's small part in the space program.