Dick Gordon, Gemini High-Flyer and Solo Lunar Orbiter, Dies Aged 88By Ben Evans November 8th, 2017
Apollo 12 crewmen (from left) Dick Gordon, Pete Conrad and Al Bean listen to instructions, ahead of a water egress training exercise in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo Credit: NASA(...) Gordon went on to win top honors for precision aerial maneuvers, which carried him through All-Weather Flight School to jet transition training to the all-weather fighter squadron at Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. He was selected to attend the Navy’s test piloting school at Patuxent River, Md., in 1957, when he met a fellow naval aviator, named Charles “Pete” Conrad. The two became lifelong friends, whiling away raucous nights in bars and nightspots, knocking back beer and shots, then showing up at the flight line six hours later, models of sobriety. “They were not only good pilots,” observed fellow astronaut Deke Slayton, “but a good time.” (...)
It was Gordon’s fondest wish to land on the Moon himself and, despite warning signs that the Apollo lunar program would end early, he elected to remain in the crew rotation, hoping for a mission of his own. In March 1970, he was assigned with astronauts Vance Brand and Jack Schmitt to the Apollo 15 backup crew, which might have seen them rotate into the prime crew for Apollo 18. Sadly, Apollo 18 was canceled later that year. Hope still remained, however, that Gordon’s crew—which included Schmitt, the first professional geologist selected for astronaut training—could be assigned to the final lunar landing, Apollo 17. It was not to be. In August 1971, Gene Cernan, Ron Evans and Schmitt were assigned to Apollo 17. They became the last humans to date to visit the Moon. (...)
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