Who Is Dick Gordon? NASA Astronaut Dies At 88

NASA lost one of its first astronauts and one of only 24 people from the United States who have been to the moon on Monday. Dick Gordon passed away at the age of 88 in his home, National Public Radio reported.

NASA tweeted a photo and a remembrance post about the Apollo and Gemini astronaut Tuesday afternoon following the announcement of his death. The tweet read, “We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut Dick Gordon, command module pilot on Apollo 12, the 2nd lunar landing.”

Gordon became an astronaut in 1963, just 10 after he got his wings as a navy pilot, according to NASA. He had attended All-Weather Flight School and jet training and was assigned to an all-weather squadron at the Navy’s air station in Jacksonville, Fla. After his time there he went on to become a test pilot, which he did for three years.

During his career as an astronaut, he spent more than 316 hours in space including the three days he spent during the Gemini 11 mission in 1966. Gordon completed this mission with fellow NASA astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad. The two completed a number of tasks during the three days in space including ExtraVehicular Activity tests, docking practices and configuration maneuvers and 12 technological and scientific experiments that were on board. They also made the first attempt at creating artificial gravity by rotating the Gemini and Agena spacecraft.

Gordon’s second flight happened three years later when he piloted the Apollo 12 craft along with Conrad again and the lunar module pilot for the mission Alan Bean. While Conrad and Bean were on the moon, Gordon stayed in the command module in orbit.

After retiring from NASA Gordon became the Executive Vice President of the New Orleans Saints football team and held executive positions at gas, oil, engineering and technology companies.

“Naval officer, aviator, chemist, test pilot, and astronaut were among the many hats of this talented and daring explorer,” said Robert Lightfoot, NASA acting administrator. “Dick will be fondly remembered as one of our nation’s boldest flyers, a man who added to our own nation’s capabilities by challenging his own. He will be missed,” said Lightfoot.