September 12, 1966 · Pilot
Gemini XI
Rendezvous and docking on the first orbit, a spacewalk out to the Agena, and a climb to a record 853 miles above the Earth.
2d 23h 17mDuration
44Orbits
44 minSpacewalk
Captain, U.S. Navy · NASA Astronaut Group 3
Richard F.
“Dick”
Gordon, Jr.
OCT 5, 1929 – NOV 6, 2017
He walked in space on Gemini XI and flew Yankee Clipper around the Moon on Apollo XII. This is the story of those flights, in his photographs and his own words.
The Moon from Apollo XII · NASA photo
Two Flights
Both with his friend and fellow Navy aviator Pete Conrad, three years apart.
November 14, 1969 · Command Module Pilot
Apollo XII
Struck by lightning on the way up, then a pinpoint landing in the Ocean of Storms while he flew Yankee Clipper alone overhead.
10d 4h 36mDuration
45Lunar orbits
60 nmiAbove the Moon
In his words · on 38 hours alone in lunar orbit
Besides, with those two guys gone I finally had some room to move around.
Dick Gordon, interview courtesy of Nancy Conrad
From the Archive
Photographs from training, both flights and the years after.
A Life in Flight
From Seattle to the Moon, and on to the New Orleans Saints.
- 1929Born October 5 in Seattle, Washington
- 1951Graduates from the University of Washington
- 1953Earns his wings as a Naval Aviator
- 1961Wins the Bendix Trophy, Los Angeles to New York in 2 hours 47 minutes
- 1963Selected by NASA as an astronaut
- 1966Flies Gemini XI
- 1969Flies Apollo XII to the Moon
- 1972Retires from NASA and the Navy; joins the New Orleans Saints
- 1993Inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame
- 2017Dies November 6
Remembrance
Dick Gordon died on November 6, 2017. This site keeps the record of his flights, and the memories of the people who knew him, flew with him or followed him.
You can share a memory of Dick. Every note is read before it appears.
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