Thomas Stafford, NASA astronaut who led Apollo-Soyuz joint mission, dies at 93

Worn NASA astronaut Thomas Stafford, who flew to the moon sooner than main the key international status mission implemented by the United States and Russia, has died at the age of 93.

Stafford’s death on Monday (March 18) got here after a protracted illness, in accordance to Max Ary, director of the Stafford Air and Condo Museum in Oklahoma.

“This nation has lost one of its great heroes,” acknowledged Ary in a call with collectSPACE.com “We are so vexed and saddened by his passing. Or now not it is honest hard to voice because he became once larger than lifestyles.”

A member of NASA’s 2d class of astronauts selected in 1962, Stafford made four flights into status. His contributions to status exploration continued a long way past his career as an astronaut, up till the time of his death.

“At the original time Well-liked Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as nicely as a peacemaker in Apollo-Soyuz. Those of us privileged to understand him are very sad but grateful we knew a immense,” acknowledged Invoice Nelson, NASA Administrator, in a statement.

Stafford’s first flight assignment became once canceled while he and Gemini 6 mission commander Walter “Wally” Schirra had been sitting on the open pad. Position to elevate off on Oct. 25, 1965, the two astronauts had been tasked with performing a rendezvous with the upper stage of an Atlas-Agena rocket, but their target by no intention reached orbit.

“We would possibly per chance also hear it assert off down the pad,” acknowledged Stafford in a 1997 NASA oral historical past interview. “When the Agena lifted off, that they had made some modifications to agree with an oxidizer gasoline lead-in trade, and it did it defective, and the component lifted off and blew [up] over the Atlantic Ocean.”

NASA managers snappy made unusual plans to open Schirra and Stafford on an alternate Gemini 6A mission to rendezvous with the Gemini 7 spacecraft crewed by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell.

“We would by no intention performed that sooner than, had two spacecraft bound,” acknowledged Stafford.

This time, Stafford narrowly neglected a 2d scrub and a possibly much worse .

On Dec. 12, 1965, eight days after the Gemini 7 crew had made it into orbit, the Titan II rocket carrying Schirra and Stafford ignited its twin nozzle LR87 engine after which, 1.5 seconds later, shut down. Mission guidelines stated that the astronauts must agree with ejected from the tablet, but sensing no dart, Schirra determined now not to abort.

His like a flash pondering now not simplest saved Gemini 6A open automobile, which efficiently lifted off honest three days later, but additionally would possibly per chance also merely agree with spared his and Stafford’s lives.

“It turns out … had we had [ejected, we] would had been two Roman candles going out, because we had been [in] 15 or 16 psi pure oxygen, soaking in that for an hour and a half,” Stafford acknowledged. “With that hearth going off like that, it would agree with burned [our] suits.”

Fortunately, the two had been safe and on Dec. 15, 1965, the Gemini 6A spacecraft met the Gemini 7 spacecraft for the key rendezvous in status. Despite the truth that they did now not dock, but the two capsules got here within a foot (30 centimeters) of every completely different.

“We flew in formation there for several hours … and bought within a couple inches of them,” acknowledged Stafford.

Stafford and Schirra returned to Earth the subsequent day, splashing down within the North Atlantic Ocean where they had been recovered by the usWasp plane carrier.

Five months later, Stafford’s 2d mission started nearly honest like his first, with the failed open of an Agena target automobile. NASA had realized from its earlier errors, though, and had an alternate ready to switch, the Augmented Aim Docking Adapter (ATDA), constructed from the reentry regulate section of a Gemini.

The Gemini 9A mission launched on June 3, 1966, with Stafford as commander and Gene Cernan as pilot.

Stafford flew a winning rendezvous with the ATDA, but as he and Cernan first approached the target, it grew to was definite that it became once tumbling and its fairing had now not been jettisoned.

“We bought up shut [and] I would possibly per chance also witness this strange component,” acknowledged Stafford. “I got here proper up shut to it, and it honest broke out in morning time, and here became once the camouflage. I called it the “offended alligator” [as] it seemed honest like that. And it became once slowly rotating.”

The camouflage’s “jaws” averted Gemini 9A from docking and options by both engineers on the ground and the astronauts aboard the spacecraft to resolve the situation had been called off out of jam that attempting to free the straps maintaining the camouflage in location would possibly per chance also pose a damage to the crew. As an alternative, Stafford and Cernan moved on to their 2d procedure: an extravehicular exercise (EVA) or spacewalk.

“So [Cernan was] presupposed to out for approximately two hours and 30-some minutes, bound take this rocket pack and get into it and cruise it round and maneuver round,” acknowledged Stafford, referring to the Air Power’s experimental Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). “So he goes out in entrance and does just a few itsy-bitsy maneuvers and he’s having a in actuality hard time. There became once nothing for him to preserve on to.”

Cernan’s complications continued to mount. His back anguish as a result of the rigidity of his suit, he became once overheating within the advise daylight hours after which his visor fogged up to the purpose he would possibly per chance also no longer witness. As a result, Stafford made the determination to call off the AMU test and stay the EVA.

“I acknowledged [to Mission Control], ‘Search for, I’ve called it off. He is fogged over, he can now not witness. Now we agree with semi-lost one system of two-system com. [He’s] now not going to cruise the rocket pack.’ My critical component became once to get him in sooner than the subsequent sunset, so we bought all squared away and he bought in,” acknowledged Stafford.

The Gemini 9A crew returned to Earth the subsequent day, touchdown on June 6, 1966, to over again be recovered by the usWasp.

Three years later, on Would possibly additionally 18, 1969, Stafford, Cernan and John Young launched together on a “costume rehearsal” for the key moon touchdown.

Led by Stafford because the mission’s commander, the Apollo 10 astronauts had been simplest the 2d crew in historical past cruise to the moon. As soon as in lunar orbit, Stafford and Cernan moved into the lunar module “Snoopy” and closed the hatch on Young, who remained at some point of the voice module “Charlie Brown.”

Stafford became once at Snoopy’s controls as he and Cernan got here within honest 7.8 miles (14.4 kilometers) of the moon’s surface, the purpose at which a powered descent for a touchdown would inaugurate on the touchdown mission to appear at.

It will probably even agree with taken honest the flip of just a few switches for Stafford and Cernan to was the key people on the moon.

“They wanted me to,” acknowledged Stafford of the prospective of conducting a touchdown on Apollo 10, “but first we seemed at the burden. I had a heavy-weight lunar module, amount 1, and amount two, they additionally did now not agree with the utility all labored out for that energy descent. So, there would possibly be no system I would possibly per chance even agree with performed it.”

Even without touching down, Stafford and Cernan had been afforded a great gaze of the moon.

“What repeatedly amazed me became once the dimension of the boulders,” acknowledged Stafford. “They had been superior, these immense ones, you understand, mountainous things. A few of them are pure white with unlit striations up on the aspect of these spacious craters. I acknowledged, ‘Oh, they’d desire to be as immense as a two- or three-myth constructing. Or now not it is hard to decide on distance.'”

“It turns out this stuff are larger than the Astrodome, these boulders. I indicate, they had been superior pieces of mass,” he acknowledged.

On the vogue back to dock with Charlie Brown, Stafford and Cernan in transient lost regulate of Snoopy as a result of a misconfigured switch for the abort steerage system.

“The whole damned spacecraft began to tumble and tried to rotate,” Stafford acknowledged. “I honest reached over and blew off the descent stage, because your whole thrusters had been on the ascent stage, [to] recuperate torque-to-inertia ratio.”

Ultimately, it took honest about 20 seconds for Stafford to glean regulate of the lunar module, and he resumed their capability to the voice module. In total, Apollo 10 spent more than 61 hours orbiting the moon, eight while Charlie Brown and Snoopy had been separated.

Returning to Earth on Would possibly additionally 26, 1969, Stafford, Cernan and Young finished a maximum depart of 24,791 miles per hour (39,897 kilometers per hour), a file that restful stands for the fastest depart at which any people agree with travelled.

Stafford’s fourth and final spaceflight became once because the U.S. crew commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Challenge (ASTP), the key joint mission flown by the United States and Russia (then the Soviet Union). The mission integrated the open of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with two cosmonauts aboard and an Apollo voice module with a specially-constructed docking adapter and three NASA astronauts.

On July 17, 1975, the two autos got here together in Earth orbit.

“Capture!” launched Stafford.

“Soyuz and Apollo are shaking fingers now,” acknowledged Alexei Leonov, commander of the Soviet crew.

For two days, the two crews — in conjunction with Stafford, Leonov, Deke Slayton, Vance Put and Valery Kubasov — labored as one, exchanging handshakes and hugs, sharing meals, presenting ceremonial gifts and receiving congratulatory messages from their respective countries’ leaders.

The ASTP mission laid the early groundwork for the once-Frigid Struggle and status flee competitors to collaborate on the International Condo Station, in conjunction with the U.S. status shuttle missions that docked with the Russian status station Mir after which the birth of the orbiting outpost 25 years within the past.

“I judge it became once a natural note-on,” acknowledged Stafford of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Challenge. “We would flown Apollo. That became once performed. Skylab had been terminated … and the Russians had been restful going. So it became once a natural extension.”

Thomas Patten Stafford became once born on Sept. 17, 1930, in Weatherford, Oklahoma. He earned a Bachelor of Science diploma from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952.

Stafford bought his pilot wings at Connally Air Power Unfriendly in Waco, Texas, in 1953. He then finished superior interceptor coaching and became once assigned to the 54th Flight Interceptor Squadron at Ellsworth Air Power Unfriendly in Speedy Metropolis, South Dakota. In December 1955, he became once assigned to the 496th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hahn Air Unfriendly in Germany, where he performed the obligations of pilot, flight chief and flight test repairs administrative heart, flying F-86Ds.

Stafford attended the U.S. Air Power Experimental Test Pilot College after which became once an teacher in flight test coaching and in actuality knowledgeable tutorial matters — setting up traditional textbooks and directing the writing of flight test manuals for use by the staff and college students.

Earlier than being assigned to Gemini 6, Stafford served because the backup pilot for Gemini 3, the key crewed mission of the two-seat spacecraft. He later served because the backup commander for Apollo 7, the key crewed open of the voice module.

Between his flights on Gemini 9A and Apollo 10, from August 1966 to October 1968, Stafford headed the mission planning diagnosis and utility trend responsibilities for the astronaut neighborhood for Challenge Apollo. As the lead member of the neighborhood, he helped formulate the sequence of missions that led to the key lunar touchdown mission.

As astronaut project supervisor, Stafford demonstrated and implemented the thought of a pilot manually flying the Saturn V booster into orbit and the translunar injection maneuver.

Stafford became once assigned as chief of the astronaut administrative heart in June 1969, making him accountable for the sequence of flight crews for projects Apollo and Skylab. He reviewed and monitored flight crew coaching status reports and became once accountable for the coordination, scheduling and regulate of all activities captivating NASA astronauts.

In June 1971, Stafford became once assigned as deputy director of flight crew operations at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (this day, Johnson Condo Center) in Houston. Stafford became once accountable for assisting the director in planning and implementation of applications for the astronaut neighborhood, the plane operations, flight crew integration, flight crew procedures and crew simulation and training divisions.

Stafford retired from NASA on Nov. 1, 1975 and three days later assumed voice of the U.S. Air Power Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Power Unfriendly in California. On Would possibly additionally 1, 1978, he grew to was the deputy chief of staff for study, trend and acquisition at U.S. Air Power headquarters in Washington, DC.

It became once at some point of this time that Stafford initiated the F-117A stealth fighter. In 1979, he wrote the preliminary desired specifications on and started the superior abilities bomber ATB trend, now designated because the B-2 “stealth bomber.” He additionally initiated the AGM-129 Stealth Cruise missile.

Stafford retired from the Air Power in November 1979 with the gloomy of lieutenant customary. He served on several corporate boards, in conjunction with OMEGA Watches and Gulfstream Aerospace, as nicely as based his hang consulting company.

In 1990, at the invitation of the White Condo, he started serving on panels shaping the lengthy accelerate direction of NASA’s human spaceflight applications.

He chaired the Synthesis Committee, setting up a belief for lunar and Mars missions, and led the neighborhood overseeing the key Hubble Condo Telescope servicing mission. He labored as an ebook on Condo Station Freedom, the precursor to the International Condo Station, and consulted on the Shuttle-Mir program and its sequence of joint missions. Stafford additionally co-chaired the assignment neighborhood working to advance back the shuttle to flight after the inability of the STS-107 crew aboard Columbia in 2003.

At the time of his death, Stafford became once chairman of the NASA Advisory Council Job Power for ISS Security and Operational Readiness.

For his carrier to the U.S. status program, Stafford became once awarded the NASA Smartly-known Service Medal, the NASA Distinctive Service Medal, the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H. Doolittle Award, the Congressional Condo Medal of Honor and the Russian Medal “For Merit in Condo Exploration,” among many alternative honors.

In 1969, Stafford and his Apollo 10 crewmates had been awarded the Special Trustees Award by the National Academy of Tv Arts and Sciences for the key color tv broadcast from status. Stafford became once inducted into the National Aviation Corridor of Fame, the Oklahoma Aviation and Condo Corridor of Fame, the International Air and Condo Corridor of Fame, the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame and International Condo Corridor of Fame.

In 2004, NASA named Stafford an Ambassador of Exploration and awarded him (in title simplest) a moon rock, which in 2005 he placed on reveal at the Stafford Air and Condo Museum in Weatherford.

As well to the museum, which opened in 1993, the airport and a constructing at Southwestern Oklahoma State College in Weatherford are named in Stafford’s honor, as is the Stafford Constructing at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma Metropolis. Stafford became once the recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from Oklahoma Metropolis College in Oklahoma, Western State College in California, Emerson College in Massachusetts and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical College in Florida.

In 2002, Stafford published his memoirs, “We Like Capture,” written with Michael Cassutt. In 1998, Stafford became once portrayed by actor Steve Hofvendahl within the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.”

Stafford is preceded in death by his Gemini 6A crewmate Wally Schirra, his Gemini 9A and Apollo 10 crewmate Gene Cernan, his Apollo 10 crewmate John Young and his Apollo-Soyuz Test Challenge crewmates Deke Slayton, Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov.

In 1953, Stafford became once married to Faye Shoemaker, with whom he had two daughters, Dionne Kay and Karin Elain. They had been divorced in 1985 (Shoemaker died in 2009) and Stafford later married Linda Ann Dishman in 1998. They adopted two sons, Michael Thomas and Stanislav “Stas” Patten. Dishman additionally has has two younger folks from a prior marriage, Kassie Neering and Ticket Hill.