Biography

Navy test pilot and astronaut. Crew member on Gemini 5 mission, 1965. Commander of the Apollo 12 mission to the moon in 1969. Conrad was the third man to walk on the moon, in November, 1969.

Over one chapter was dedicated almost solely to Pete Conrad in Tom Wolfe's book, The Right Stuffm. However, no mention of him was made in the movie of the same name.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 125-126. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Much to director Ron Howard's surprise, Conrad auditioned for a part in Apollo 13 (1995), genuinely wanting to be in the film. Howard couldn't find a part for him, but was overjoyed to meet him anyway.

He had four spaceflights during the Apollo era. Gemini 5 was flown with Mercury veteran Gordon Cooper. He commanded Gemini 11 flying with Richard Gordon docking with the Agena target vehicle immediately after achieving orbit as in a lunar mission. In Apollo 12 he, Alan Bean and Richard Gordon conducted the second trip to the moon bringing back lunar rocks and pieces of the Surveyor 3 probe. He also commanded the first Skylab mission with Paul Weitz and Joe Kerwin spending 28 days in space setting a new duration record. On the Apollo 12 flight the command module was called the Yankee Clipper while the lunar module was designated the Intrepid.