Jul 8 1999
From The Space Library
Astronaut Charles P. "Pete" Conrad Jr. died at age 69 of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. George W. S. Abbey, Director of Johnson Space Center, described Conrad, the third man to walk on the Moon, as a person who "combined skill and ability with wit and humor to become one of the courageous pioneers who took humankind beyond the bounds of our planet." As an example of Conrad's wit, Abbey quoted his parody of the famous words Neil A. Armstrong had uttered when taking his first steps on the Moon. Upon leaving the lunar module Intrepid on 19 November 1969 for his own moonwalk, Conrad had quipped, "Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." Conrad had been a member of NASA's second candidate class of astronauts in 1962 and had flown on the Gemini 5 mission with L. Gordon Cooper Jr. The pair had spent a record eight days in orbit in August 1965, perfecting techniques for later lunar missions. In September 1966, Conrad had commanded the Gemini 11 mission; during that mission, he and Richard F. Gordon Jr. had linked their Gemini spacecraft with an Agena target vehicle, establishing a record for the fastest space rendezvous and docking in history. Conrad had also served as Commander of the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, with Alan Bean and Richard F. Gordon as crewmates. During his final spaceflight in 1973, Conrad had been the first Commander of Skylab, the first American space station. The Skylab crew had spent 28 days in space, establishing another endurance record. Conrad had won the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, two Navy Distinguished Service Medals, and two Distinguished Flying Crosses.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko appealed to Kazakhstan's Premier Nurlan Balgimbayev to permit the launch of the Okean-O research satellite aboard a Ukrainian Zenit rocket, despite the launch ban following the 5 July crash of a Russian rocket. Ukrainian officials expressed concern that a delay beyond 15 July, with the rocket's lengthy stay on the launchpad, would endanger the prospect of a successful launch. The Ukrainian space program, seeking to compete in the lucrative commercial space market, was under pressure to make a successful launch after the crash in September 1998 of a Zenit rocket, destroying 12 of Globalstar Inc.'s communications satellites.
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