Honor Richard Gordon's orbital contributions.
Moon Mission: Apollo 12
Role: Command Module Pilot
Brief Bio: Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr. was an American naval officer, aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, born on October 5, 1929, in Seattle, Washington. He flew to the Moon as command module pilot on the Apollo 12 mission and previously served as pilot on Gemini 11, logging a total of 315 hours and 53 minutes in space.
Did you know: Richard Gordon won the Bendix Trophy race in May 1961, flying an F4H-1 and setting a new speed record of 869.74 miles per hour and a transcontinental speed record of 2 hours and 47 minutes from Los Angeles to New York City.
Afterward: After retiring from NASA and the U.S. Navy in January 1972, Gordon served as executive vice president of the New Orleans Saints, worked in various roles in the energy sector, and later became president of Astro Sciences Corporation in 1982.
