Martin Baumgaertner

Janita Lee Cooper was born to astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) and Trudy B Olson (1927-1994). She married Robert 'Bobby' Earl Stone (1944-2020) on January 27th 1972 and they divorced on November 10th 1986. She later married Guadalupe Rangel Jr (1954-2003) on June 23rd 1989 in Lynn Texas. She lived in numerous locations including Germany and in the United States as her father was assigned to various places. She witnessed the liftoff of NASA's Mercury 9 mission when her father left Earth's orbit and was aboard the US Navy ship when her father made his splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Camala (Cooper) Tharpe is the eldest daughter of Gemini 5 command pilot Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr and Gertrude "Trudy" Bernice (Olson) Cooper, Gordon Cooper's first wife. Camala's sister, Janita, is one year her junior. She also has two half-sisters, Colleen Taylor Cooper, born 1979, and Elizabeth Jo Cooper, born 1980. There is a ship manifest showing that Camala traveled on the USNS Henry Gibbins at the age of 2 from New York, and another travel entry of her arriving at the age of 5 from Rhein Mien Germany to Idlewild Airport in New York. Camala Keoki Cooper married Allen Hamilton Tharpe when she was 20 and he was 19 on December 21, 1968 in Montgomery, Texas. They divorced on April 9, 1974 in Harris County, Texas, after having two children, one of whom was Travis Hamilton Tharpe, born 1971. Camala Tharpe then married Nicholas Carl "Nicky" Tilotta. born on April 12th, 1952 on April 3rd, 1976 in Harris, Texas. An article published in the Albuquerque Tribune in 1965 reported that she was learning to fly when she was 16, see Flying Lesson. Another article highlighted her life when her father worked for NASA, see Astronaut's Daughters Have Good Hookey Excuse.