Ричард Гордон: Американский астронавт и исследователь Луны.

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1929–2017)

Richard Francis "Dick" 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 people to have flown to 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 (1905–1963), a machinist, and his wife, Angela Frances Gordon ( Sullivan; 1904–1984), an elementary school teacher. 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.

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 already good friends with Conrad, who had once been his roommate on the aircraft carrier Ranger. On the flight, Gordon performed two spacewalks, which included attaching a tether to the Agena and retrieving a nuclear emulsion experiment package.

Gordon was assigned as the backup command module pilot for Apollo 9. In November 1969, he flew as command module pilot of Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to land on the Moon. While his crewmates, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, landed in the Ocean of Storms, Gordon remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module Yankee Clipper, photographing tentative landing sites for future missions. Gordon logged a total of 315 hours and 53 minutes in space, of which 2 hours and 41 minutes were spent in EVA. He retired from NASA and the U. S. Navy in January 1972. He died in San Marcos, California, on November 6, 2017, at the age of 88. His hobbies included water skiing and golf.

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

Gordon wrote the foreword for astronaut Al Worden's 2011 book, Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon, as well as the foreword to the 2010 book Footprints in the Dust: The Epic Voyages of Apollo, 1969–1975, edited by Colin Burgess.

Gordon, R. F., F4H 1 Navy Preliminary Evaluation, Phase I, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, September 1958. Gordon, R. F., F4H 1 Navy Preliminary Evaluation, Phase I Supplement, October 1958. Gordon, R. F., FJ 4B Fuel Consumption and Performance Report, Flight Test, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, 1958. Gordon, R. F., F11F Fuel Consumption and Performance Report, Flight Test, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, 1958. Gordon, R. F., Revised Roll Performance Requirements for MIL SPEC F 8785. All Aircraft in Configuration PA, Flight Test, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, 1958. Gordon, R. F., F8U Spin Evaluation Report, Flight Test, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, 1959. Gordon, R. F., Gemini XI, Gemini Program Mission Report, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Report, October 1966. Gordon, R. F., Apollo XII Mission Report, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Report, December 1969.