Gordon, Richard Francis, Jr. (1929–)
American astronaut who walked in space during the Gemini
11 mission and orbited the Moon on Apollo
12. Gordon received a B.S. from the University of Washington in 1951 before
entering the United States Navy and serving as a flight test pilot. In 1960
he joined Fighter Squadron 121 at the Miramar, California Naval Air Station
as a flight instructor and won the Bendix Trophy Race from Los Angeles to
New York in May 1961, setting a new speed record of 1,399 km/h and a transcontinental
record of 2 hours 47 minutes. He was selected as an astronaut in 1963 and
made his first spaceflight as pilot alongside Charles Conrad
on the three-day Gemini 11 mission in 1966. Gordon and Conrad served together
again in 1969 aboard Apollo 12, with Gordon
as Command Module pilot. In 1971, Gordon became chief of advanced programs
for the Astronaut Office and worked on design and testing of the Space
Shuttle and development equipment. A year later he retired from NASA
and the Navy to become executive vice president of the New Orleans Saints
American football team. He is currently president of Space Age America,
Inc.
Related category
• ASTRONAUTS
AND COSMONAUTS
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