Richard Gordon
Astronaut who piloted the second mission to land on the Moon and made two spacewalks
RICHARD GORDON, the American astronaut, who has died aged 88, piloted the command module of Apollo 12, the second manned lunar mission, and was one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Drawn from the third group of astronauts nominated by Nasa in October 1963, Gordon made his first space flight in September 1966 as pilot of Gemini 11, alongside his friend Charles “Pete” Conrad, his roommate on the carrier USS Ranger during their service in the US Navy.
One of the main objects of the mission was to rehearse space rescue techniques. During the flight, Gordon spent nearly three hours making two spacewalks (EVAS) but struggled to tether the Gemini spacecraft to an Agena satellite by means of a 100ft line. When his right eye filled with sweat and he became short of breath, he was ordered to return to the Gemini capsule. “I’m pooped,” he remarked.
Although subsequently assigned as backup command module pilot for Apollo 9, it was November 1969 before he returned into space, then aged 40, 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 in Intrepid, the lunar module or LEM, Gordon remained in lunar orbit aboard the mother ship Yankee Clipper, taking mapping photographs of possible landing sites for future missions.
On November 20, as Bean and Conrad closed towards the mother ship at 25mph from some 4,000ft away after successfully blasting off from the lunar surface, Gordon switched on his colour television camera, enabling millions of viewers on Earth to watch the dramatic spectacle of a “live” space docking.
The camera was turned off as Bean and Conrad transferred their treasure trove of 80lb of moon rock to the command module. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here,” Gordon explained. The transfer complete, Intrepid was separated from the mother ship and jettisoned to crash land on the Moon’s surface.
On the return flight to Earth, Gordon and his fellow astronauts gave the first press conference to be held in space, taking questions from journalists at Nasa control in Houston, Texas.
The mission ended with a successful splashdown, Gordon declaring himself in excellent shape apart from a skin rash from wearing sensors on his chest.
After Apollo 12, Gordon was assigned as backup commander of Apollo 15. Although he was scheduled to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 18, the mission was cancelled because of budget cuts. He retired from Nasa in January 1972.
The son of a woodcutter, Richard Francis Gordon Jr was born on October 5 1929 in Seattle, Washington, into a Roman Catholic family. As a boy he ran errands for the owner of a local shop and cleaned the floor. After North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington, he studied Chemistry at the University of Washington, graduating in 1951.
Joining the US Navy, Gordon received his wings as a naval aviator in 1953 and was assigned to an all-weather fighter squadron at Jacksonville, Florida.
After completing his training as a naval test pilot, he became the first test pilot for the F-4H Phantom II project, and was instrumental in introducing the aircraft to the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. In May 1961, when he won the Bendix Trophy Race from Los Angeles to New York, he set a new speed record of 869.74mph and a transcontinental speed record of two hours and 47 minutes.
After retiring as an astronaut and leaving Nasa, Gordon held executive posts in the chemical, oil and gas industries, and in 1978 became president of a company designing firefighting equipment for oil rigs.
In 1982 he became president of Astro Sciences Corporation, designing software and hardware systems for control rooms. In 1984 he was a technical adviser on the James Michener television miniseries Space and played the part of the capcom controller.
Gordon, who was awarded Nasa’s distinguished service and exceptional service medals, was a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, an associate fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a member of the Navy League.
He wrote the foreword to the book Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut’s Journey to the Moon (2001) by his fellow astronaut Al Worden.
In the aftermath of his Apollo 12 mission, Gordon found his name added to the sinistral Hall of Fame run by the Lefthanders’ Association. Gordon, noted the founder Michael Barsley, had been an outstanding left-handed golfer at college in Washington, and a pitcher in baseball. “But,” he added “did he drive on the left or the right while encircling the Moon?”
Richard Gordon’s first marriage, to Barbara Field, was dissolved. He married, secondly, Linda Saunders, who died earlier this year. He is survived by three sons and two daughters from his first marriage. Another son predeceased him.
Richard Gordon, born October 5 1929, died November 6 2017