Richard F. Gordon

Richard Francis Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and a football executive. He was one of 24 Apollo astronauts to reach the Moon, as command module pilot of the Apollo 12 mission, which orbited the Moon 45 times. Gordon had already flown in space as the pilot of the 1966 Gemini 11 mission.

Biography Early life and education Gordon was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 5, 1929, the first of five children of Richard Francis Gordon Sr., a machinist, and his wife, Angela Frances Gordon ( Sullivan), an elementary school teacher. He graduated from North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington, in 1947, then entered the University of Washington, from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1951 and he was also a member of Phi Sigma Kappa.

NASA career

Gordon was one of the third group of astronauts, named by NASA in October 1963, being the oldest astronaut in his selection. He had been a finalist for the second selection, in 1962. Gordon was already good friends with Conrad, who had once been his roommate on the aircraft carrier . On the flight, Gordon performed two spacewalks, which included attaching a tether to the Agena and retrieving a nuclear emulsion experiment package.

Apollo program

Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean pose with their Apollo 12 Saturn V Moon rocket in the background on the pad at Cape Canaveral on October 29, 1969.

Gordon was assigned as the backup command module pilot for Apollo 9. In November 1969, he flew as command module pilot of Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to land on the Moon. While his crewmates, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, landed in the Ocean of Storms, Gordon remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module Yankee Clipper, photographing tentative landing sites for future missions.

Gordon logged a total of 315 hours and 53 minutes in space, of which 2 hours and 41 minutes were spent in EVA.

He retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in January 1972. He died in San Marcos, California, on November 6, 2017, at the age of 88. His hobbies included water skiing and golf.

Organizations Gordon was a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, an associate fellow of Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a member of the Navy League, and a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. NASA Exceptional Service Medal;

Gordon was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame with nine of his Gemini astronaut colleagues in 1982. He was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame on March 19, 1993. In 2020, Gordon was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.

In media In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon Gordon was played by Tom Verica.