Astronaut was happy letting others walk on moon
RICHARD GORDON 1929-2017
WASHINGTON — Apollo 12 astronaut Richard “Dick” F. Gordon Jr., one of a dozen men who flew around the moon but didn’t land there, has died, NASA said. He was 88.
Gordon was a test pilot when he was chosen for NASA’s third group of astronauts in 1963. He flew on Gemini 11 in 1966, walking in space twice. In 1969, Gordon circled the moon in the Apollo 12 command module Yankee Clipper while crewmates Alan Bean and Charles Conrad landed and walked on the lunar surface.
“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,” acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement Tuesday.
Gordon died Monday at his home in San Marcos, California, according to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Born in Seattle, a Navy captain and a chemist, Gordon was such a steely professional that after a difficult first spacewalk, he fell asleep during a break in his second spacewalk.
In a 1997 NASA oral history, Gordon said people would often ask if he felt alone while his two partners walked on the moon. “I said, ‘Hell no, if you knew those guys, you’d be happy to be alone’.”
Gordon was the instant leader of a star-studded class of 14 astronauts that included the last man on the moon, Eugene Cernan, Bean recalled.
“He was a happy guy and just the best possible crewmate and friend,” he said.
After retiring from NASA in 1972, he became executive vice president of the New Orleans Saints football team. He went on to be an executive in energy and science companies.
Gordon is survived by six children, two stepchildren and five grandchildren.