Richard F. Gordon

Richard Francis Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and a football executive. He was one of 24 Apollo astronauts to reach the Moon, as command module pilot of the Apollo 12 mission, which orbited the Moon 45 times. Gordon had already flown in space as the pilot of the 1966 Gemini 11 mission.

Gordon was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 5, 1929, the first of five children of Richard Francis Gordon Sr., a machinist, and his wife, Angela Frances Gordon (née Sullivan), an elementary school teacher. He was a Boy Scout, and earned the rank of Star Scout. He graduated from North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington, in 1947, then entered the University of Washington, from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1951 and he was also a member of Phi Sigma Kappa.

After graduating from college, Gordon joined the United States Navy and received his wings as a Naval Aviator in 1953. He then attended All-Weather Flight School and jet transitional training, and was subsequently assigned to an all-weather fighter squadron at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1957, he attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and served as a flight test pilot until 1960. During this tour of duty, he did flight test work on the F-8U Crusader, F-11F Tiger, North American FJ Fury, and A-4D Skyhawk, and was the first project test pilot for the F4H-1 Phantom II. He served with Fighter Squadron 121 (VF-121) at the Naval Air Station Miramar, California], as a flight instructor in the F4H-1 and participated in the introduction of that aircraft to the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. He was also flight safety officer, assistant operations officer, and ground training officer for Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) at Miramar. He logged more than 4,500 hours of flying time with 3,500 hours of those hours in jet aircraft. He was also a student at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California.

He won the Bendix Trophy race from Los Angeles to New York City in May 1961, flying an F4H-1 in which he established a new speed record of 869.74 miles per hour and a transcontinental speed record of 2 hours and 47 minutes.

Gordon was one of the third group of astronauts, named by NASA in October 1963, being the oldest astronaut in his selection. He had been a finalist for the second selection, in 1962.

Gordon was a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, an associate fellow of Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a member of the Navy League, and a member of Phi Sigma Kappa.

Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award for Scientific and Technical Progress in 1970;

Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) Superior Achievement Award;

Richard Gordon Elementary School in Kingston, Washington, was named after him.

Gordon was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame with nine of his Gemini astronaut colleagues in 1982. He was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame on March 19, 1993. In 2020, Gordon was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.

In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon Gordon was played by Tom Verica.