We’re Losing Our Apollo Astronauts

Astronaut Richard “Dick” Gordon with Charles “Pete” Conrad before their Gemini 10 mission. (Credit: NASA)

NASA astronaut Richard “Dick” Gordon, who died on Monday at the age of 88, was the third Apollo-era astronaut to pass away this year and the second who was involved in a lunar mission.

Gordon was command module pilot for Apollo 12, which saw Pete Conrad and Alan Bean walk on the moon in November 1969. Gordon stayed in orbit aboard aboard the command service module Yankee Clipper while his colleagues explored the lunar surface. It was the second and final spaceflight for Gordon, who flew aboard Gemini 10 with Conrad three years earlier.

In January, Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan passed away at the age of 82. Cernan, who was the last man to walk on the moon, explored the Taurus-Littrow highlands with Harrison Schmitt in December 1972. Cernan had earlier orbited the moon on Apollo 10 in May 1969 and flown aboard Gemini 9 in June 1966.

Paul Weitz, who died on Oct. 22 at the age of 85, was the third Apollo-era astronaut to pass away this year. Weitz flew with Conrad and Joseph Kerwin as part of the Skylab 2 mission, which was a 28-day mission to America’s first space station. The crew saved the station by deploying a sun shade to replace a missing heat shield and freed a stuck solar panel needed to power the station. Weitz later commanded the maiden flight of the space shuttle Challenger.

All the remaining Apollo-era astronauts are in their 80’s. Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, who flew the first mission around the moon aboard Apollo 8, are the oldest at 89. Skylab 4 astronaut Edward Gibson is the youngest; he will turn 81 on Wednesday.

Of the 12 men to walk on the moon, six are still with us: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, David Scott, Charlie Duke, John Young and Harrison Schmitt. Those who have passed on include Conrad, Cernan, Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and James Irwin.

The table below shows all Apollo and Skylab astronauts.