Astronaut who flew round the moon

Born: October 5, 1929;

Died: November 6, 2017

RICHARD "Dick" F Gordon Jr, who has died aged 88, was an Apollo 12 astronaut and one of a dozen men who flew around the moon but did not land there.

Gordon was a test pilot when he was chosen for NASA's third group of astronauts in 1963. He flew on Gemini 11 in 1966, walking in space twice. In 1969, he circled the moon in the Apollo 12 command module Yankee Clipper while crewmates Alan Bean and Charles Conrad landed and walked on the lunar surface.

Over the two flights, he spent nearly 316 hours in space.

Born in Seattle, Gordon was such a steely professional that after a difficult first spacewalk, he fell asleep during a break in his second spacewalk. He downplayed Apollo 12 being hit by lightning during lift-off; backup batteries saved the crew from having to abort the mission.

In a 1997 NASA oral history, Gordon said people would often ask if he felt alone while his two partners walked on the moon. "I said, 'Hell no, if you knew those guys, you'd be happy to be alone'."

Gordon called the experience wonderful: "You don't have to communicate. You don't have to worry about pleasing anyone beside yourself. And there's a lot of things that you have to do and accomplish. And it's a moment of solitude."

When Conrad and Bean left the moon and docked their lunar module, Gordon said he looked in and "all I could see was a black cloud in there. I didn't see them at all. I looked in there and said, 'Holy smoke. You're not getting in here and dirtying up my nice clean Command Module.' So they passed the rocks over, took off their suits and underwear, and I said, 'OK, you can come in now'."

Gordon had been slated to command the Apollo 18 mission that would land on the moon, but it was cut for budget reasons. Apollo 17 was the last mission to the moon. In all, 24 Americans flew to the moon and 12 landed on it.

While in the Navy as a test pilot, Gordon won the Bendix Trophy Race from Los Angeles to New York in 1961, setting a speed record of 869.74 miles per hour.

Recalling his first Gemini 11 spacewalk, Gordon said when it came time to put on his helmet, it would not fit. After much effort and lost time, he got it on, but was exhausted and behind schedule.

"I was perspiring," he later recalled. "My eyes were stinging ... they decided to quit."

His second spacewalk was so calm that he and Conrad caught themselves falling asleep.

"It was nice and warm and cuddly," Gordon said.

After retiring from NASA in 1972, Gordon became executive vice president of the New Orleans Saints football team. He went on to be an executive in energy and science companies.

He is survived by six children, two stepchildren and five grandchildren.