Obituaries

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Astronaut Richard Gordon

Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017), (Capt, USN), was an American naval officer and aviator, chemist, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, as the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 12 mission.

He received his wings as a Naval Aviator in 1953. He then attended All-Weather Flight School and jet transitional training, and was subsequently assigned to an all-weather fighter squadron at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.
In 1957, he attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and served as a flight test pilot until 1960. During this tour of duty, he did flight test work on the F-8U Crusader, F-11F Tiger, North American FJ Fury, and A-4D Skyhawk, and was the first project test pilot for the F4H-1 Phantom II. He served with Fighter Squadron 121 (VF-121) at the Naval Air Station Miramar, California, as a flight instructor in the F4H-1 and participated in the introduction of that aircraft to the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. He was also flight safety officer, assistant operations officer, and ground training officer for Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) at Miramar.

He won the Bendix Trophy race from Los Angeles to New York City in May 1961, in which he established a new speed record of 869.74 miles per hour and a transcontinental speed record of 2 hours and 47 minutes.[2]
He was also a student at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California.[2]
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He logged more than 4,500 hours flying time with 3,500 hours of those hours in jet aircraft.[2]



Gordon suiting up before Gemini 11
Gordon was one of the third group of astronauts, named by NASA in October 1963. He had been a finalist for the second selection, in 1962.[4]

Main article: Gemini 11
Gordon served as backup Pilot for the Gemini 8 flight. In September 1966, he made his first space flight, as Pilot of Gemini 11, alongside Pete Conrad. Gordon was already good friends with Conrad, who had been his roommate on the carrier USS Ranger. On the flight, Gordon performed two spacewalks, which included attaching a tether to the Agena and retrieving a nuclear emulsion experiment package.[2]

Main article: Apollo 12


Gordon in Command Module Simulator, training for Apollo 12

Gordon was subsequently assigned as backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo 9. In November 1969, he flew as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 12, the second manned 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.[2]

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_F._Gordon_Jr.]Much more here.
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After Apollo 12, Gordon was assigned as backup Commander of Apollo 15. He was slated to walk on the Moon as Commander of Apollo 18, but that mission was cancelled because of budget cuts.

Gordon completed two space flights, logging a total of 315 hours and 53 minutes in space, of which 2 hours and 41 minutes were spent in EVA.[2]
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Gordon retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in January 1972.