Pete Conrad
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- For other people with similar names, see Peter Conrad.
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| Astronaut | |
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| Nationality | American |
| Born | June 2, 1930 Philadelphia, PA |
| Died | July 8, 1999 Ojai, California |
| Occupation1 | Test Pilot |
| Rank | Captain, USN |
| Space time | 49d 03h 38m |
| Selection | 1962 NASA Group |
| Mission(s) | Gemini 5, Gemini 11, Apollo 12, Skylab 2 |
| Mission insignia |
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| This infobox needs updating. Please see Template talk:Infobox Astronaut for information | |
| 1 previous or current | |
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. (June 2, 1930 – July 8, 1999), was an American astronaut and the third man to walk on the moon. He served on Gemini 5 and 11, Apollo 12, and Skylab 2 missions, and may have been scheduled for the Apollo 20 mission, which was cancelled.
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[edit] Early career
After attending The Haverford School, the Darrow School, and receiving a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University in 1953 he entered the United States Navy, where he became a test pilot and later an instructor. He was one of the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962 - he had previously been considered and turned down for the Mercury Seven, with the notation "not suitable for long-duration flight."[1]
[edit] NASA Career
Regarded as one of the best pilots in the group he was one of the first of his group to be assigned a Gemini mission. As pilot of Gemini 5 he set a new space endurance record of 8 days - the time it would take to get to the moon and back - and tested many spacecraft systems essential to the Apollo program. Conrad was also one of the smallest of the astronauts in height (1.69 metres (5 feet 6.5 inches[2])) and build so he found the confinement of the Gemini capsule less onerous. He was then back up Commander for Gemini 8 and commander of Gemini 11, which docked with an Agena target immediately after achieving orbit, as would have to be done by Apollo lunar landing missions.
Conrad was due to be back-up commander of the first flight of the full Saturn V/Apollo into high earth orbit. When NASA created the Apollo 8 mission both prime and back-up crews were switched. But for this Conrad would have been in-line to command Apollo 11.
After stepping onto the lunar surface, Conrad joked about his own small stature by remarking:
- Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me.
He later revealed that this was in order to win a bet he had made with a friend for $500 to prove that NASA did not script astronaut comments. [3]
His last mission was commander of Skylab 2, the first crew aboard the space station.
[edit] Post-NASA
He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973, and went to work for American Television and Communications Company. He worked for McDonnell Douglas from 1976, and during the 1990s he was the ground-based pilot for several test flights of the Delta Clipper experimental single stage to orbit launch vehicle.
Conrad had a cameo role in the 1991 TV movie Plymouth.
On Valentine's Day, in 1996, Conrad was part of the crew on a record breaking around the world flight in a Learjet owned by cable TV pioneer, Bill Daniels. The flight lasted 49 hours, 26 minutes and 8 seconds. Today the jet is on permanent static display at Denver International Airport's Terminal C.
In 2006, NASA posthumously awarded him the Ambassador of Exploration Award for his work for the agency and science.
[edit] Death
Less than three weeks before the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the first moon landing, while motorcycling in Ojai, California with friends, he ran off the road and crashed. His injuries were first thought to be minor, but he died from internal bleeding about six hours later.
[edit] In Fiction
In the 1995 film Apollo 13, Conrad was played by David Andrews. In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, he was played by Peter Scolari (in episode 1, "Can We Do This?") and by Paul McCrane (in episode 7, "That's All There Is").
[edit] Quotes
A month before he died, Conrad appeared on ABC News Nightline and said, "I think the Space Shuttle is worth one billion dollars a launch. I think that it is worth two billion dollars for what it does. I think the Shuttle is worth it for the work it does."
| People Who Have Walked on the Moon |
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|---|---|
| Armstrong • Aldrin • Conrad • Bean • Shepard • Mitchell • Scott • Irwin • Young • Duke • Cernan • Schmitt |
[edit] References
- ^ Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. Page 108 (hardcover). Farrar-Straus-Giroux, New York. 1979. ISBN 0374250332.
- ^ Conrad Profile
- ^ NASA Honor site
