Thomas Stafford

Thomas Stafford was an American astronaut who was born on September 17, 1930, in Oklahoma. Before he became an astronaut, Stafford was an Air Force pilot. He has logged over 7100 hours of flight time in 110 types of aircraft.

Stafford became an astronaut in 1962. He has spent over 504 hours in space on four spaceflights.

Stafford made his first spaceflight aboard Gemini 6 in 1965. The craft made a rendezvous with Gemini 7 in orbit. In 1966, he commanded Gemini 9.

Stafford commanded Apollo 10 in 1969. This was the final dress rehearsal for a manned lunar landing. Stafford and fellow astronaut Cernan flew to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface. Stafford made his last flight aboard the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. The American crew met a Russian crew in space.

Stafford left NASA in 1975.



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