RIP Dick Gordon, CMP Apollo 12

One of my personal childhood heroes died today. Dick Gordon, was co-pilot on Gemini 11, Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot, and who likely would have walked on the moon on Apollo 18 if the program hadn't been cancelled.

“Naval officer, aviator, chemist, test pilot, and astronaut were among the many hats of this talented and daring explorer,” said Robert Lightfoot, NASA acting administrator. 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.”

Gordon is known for saying that in traveling to the moon, we discovered the beauty of our own earth.  “From 240,000 miles away, it’s very beautiful...a very delicate planet sitting out there in the blackest — it’s the blackest black you’ll ever see! It’s just devoid of any color whatsoever. And it’s been described like a Christmas tree ornament hanging out there. You can’t see how it’s suspended or anything. It’s — philosophically you could emote about it, I’m sure, for quite some time. But it is a startling picture to look at the Earth coming back from being around the moon."

Gordon probably could've gotten a command slot on Skylab, since his Apollo 12 crewmates Pete Conrad and Alan Bean did, but instead, Gordon left the space agency and became Executive Vice President of the New Orleans Saints Professional Football Club.

You can learn more about Gordon here.


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