Thomas Stafford
Thomas Patten Stafford (born September 17, 1930) is an American former Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and one of 24 people who flew to the Moon. He also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1969 to 1971.
After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Stafford commissioned in the United States Air Force, flying the F-86 Sabre prior becoming a test pilot. He was selected to become an astronaut in 1962, and flew aboard Gemini 6A and Gemini 9. In 1969, Stafford was the Commander of Apollo 10, the second crewed mission to orbit the Moon and the first to fly a Lunar Module in lunar orbit, descending to an altitude of nine miles.
In 1975, Stafford was the commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission. Stafford was a brigadier general at the time of the mission, becoming the first general officer to fly in space, as well as the first member of his Naval Academy class to pin on the first, second, and third stars of a general officer. He made six rendezvous in space and logged 507 hours of space flight. He has flown over 120 different types of fixed wing and rotary aircraft and three different types of spacecraft.
Spaceflights:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 Gemini 6A PLT 15.12. - 16.12.1965 1d 01h 51m
2 Gemini 9A Command Pilot 03.06. - 06.06.1966 3d 00h 20m
3 Apollo 10 CDR 18.05. - 26.05.1969 8d 00h 03m
4 ASTP CDR 15.07. - 24.07.1975 9d 01h 28m
Total 21d 03h 42m
