Richard F. Gordon received his B.S degree from the University of Washington in 1951. He joined the Navy, entered flight school, and received his wings in 1953. He was initially assigned to an all-weather fighter squadron in Jacksonville, then attended the Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, where he served as a test pilot until 1960. He then joined VF-121 at Naval Air Station, Miramar as a flight instructor, helping introduce the F4H-1 Phantom II into service. Gordon eventually logged more than 4,500 hours. Certainly, a highlight of his Navy career was winning the Bendix Trophy race from Los Angeles to New York in 1961 in an F-4, establishing a new speed record of 869.74 MPH. Gordon was a finalist for the second group of NASA astronauts in 1962, then was selected for the third group in 1963. His first assignment was as backup pilot for Gemini 8. In 1966, on his first space mission, he was pilot of Gemini 11. Gemini 11 highlights included a rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle, a record setting orbit altitude record and two space walks by Charles Conrad. Later, Gordon was backup pilot for Apollo 9. In 1969, Gordon, Conrad and Alan Bean were launched on Apollo 12, where he piloted the command module. Gordon completed 45 lunar orbits, while Conrad and Bean spent over a day performing two moonwalks, the second successful manned mission to the Moon’s surface. Gordon was scheduled to command Apollo 18, but that mission was cancelled. In all, he spent over 315 hours in space. In 1971 Gordon was named chief of advanced programs for NASA’s astronaut office. He retired in 1972, and became Executive Vice President of the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints. He then worked as an executive for several oil companies. In 1982 he became President of Astro Science Corporation in California, a ground breaking technology company, retiring in 1997. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993.
Inducted in 2019.
Portrait Location: Space Gallery

Induction Video