Astronaut Lt Gen Thomas Stafford dies, age 93

For those who grew up idolizing the trailblazers of the space race, the name Thomas Stafford will be familiar. He was part of NASA Astronaut Group 2. Also in Group 2 were several other well known astronauts of the Gemini and Apollo Era (and beyond). Along with Stafford, Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Ed White, and John Young became astronauts. Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon, Lovell went there twice without landing (the only man who can make that claim), and White was the first American to spacewalk.

I write today of Stafford though because he died this week at the age of 93. He was an exceptionally accomplished man.

Stafford enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Infantry Division (the famous Thunderbirds) when he was still in high school. By that time he’d already received his private pilot’s certificate (at age 14). He eventually became an artillery plotter before taking a Navy ROTC scholarship at the University of Oklahoma. Soon though, he received an appointment to the US Naval Academy, graduating with the Class of 1952.

Upon his graduation, Stafford won a lottery and an appointment to the newly separate US Air Force. The Air Force at the time didn’t have their own academy and commissioned officers from the other service academies. Graduating in ’52 meant that by the time he finished all his training to become a fighter pilot (in F-86 Sabers) the war in Korea was over. He soon went to the USAF Test Pilot’s School, where he graduated top of his class.

He then worked as a Test Pilot and instructor at Edwards AFB in California. He then moved to Boston to go to Harvard Business School (while still a USAF officer), but just three days later got the fateful call from NASA.

Stafford’s first trip to space was with Wally Schirra on Gemini 6. This mission would be the first time two American spacecraft were simultaneously in orbit. Gemini 6 met up with Gemini 7 (Borman and Lovell), proving that an orbital rendezvous (a necessary part of the Apollo flight plan) was possible. The two spacecraft maintained station, just feet away from each other, for two hours.

When Gemini 9’s primary crew of Elliott See and Charlie Bassett died in a T-38 Talon crash, Stafford and Gene Cernan moved up to primary crew. This mission was planned to have them dock with an automated spacecraft, but the other ship had mechanical problems. Instead they met up with it and simulated docking. Then Stafford became the second American and third man overall to conduct a spacewalk.

Moving from the Gemini program into Apollo, Stafford was the commander of Apollo 10. This was the first lunar orbital flight of the Lunar Module. They undocked from the Apollo Command Module and flew to within nine miles of the lunar surface, scouting the Apollo 11 landing site.

With the end of the lunar mission, Stafford was selected as the mission commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. This was the first cooperation in space between the Americans and Soviets. The eponymous spacecraft from both nations rendezvoused in orbit, docked, and the two crews lived together for almost two days.

Leaving NASA, Stafford continued his Air Force career, taking on a series of commands. He would have a key role in the development of the F-117A Nighthawk, B-2 Spirit, and the F-22 Raptor. He retired as a lieutenant general in 1979 and then served on corporate boards and on a NASA advisory board.

Stafford was a recipient of two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor (he was the eighth recipient), and the Russian Medal “For Merit in Space Exploration” among many other honors.

Category: Air Force, NASA, We Remember