Interview with Richard Gordon Jr.

Published July 6, 2011

At a June gathering of astronauts during SpaceFest III held at the Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Atlantis’ final launch on Friday sparked strong opinions from nearly a dozen Apollo and shuttle astronauts. Apollo 12 astronaut retired Navy Capt. Richard "Dick" Gordon Jr., 81, Prescott, Ariz., was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963. He served as backup pilot for the Gemini 8 flight. On Sept. 12, 1966, he served as pilot for the 3-day Gemini XI mission, and was the backup command pilot for Apollo 9. Gordon was the command module pilot during the Apollo 12 moon mission from Nov. 14-24, 1969, with spacecraft Cmdr. Charles "Pete" Conrad and lunar module pilot Alan L. Bean. He served as backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 15. In 1972, Gordon retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy.