Thomas P. Stafford

Thomas Patten Stafford (born September 17, 1930; Lt Gen, USAF, Ret.) is an American former Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut.

Thomas P. Stafford
Thomas Stafford (1969)
Born	(1930-09-17) September 17, 1930 Weatherford, Oklahoma, U.S.
Status	Retired
Nationality	American
Other names	Thomas Patten Stafford
Alma mater	United States Naval Academy, B.S. 1952
Occupation	Test pilot, consultant
Awards
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Rank	Lieutenant General, United States Air Force
Time in space	21d 03h 42m
Selection	1962 NASA Group 2
Missions	Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
Mission insignia
Retirement	November 1, 1979

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.

Thomas P. Stafford Media

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  Stafford (left) with his Gemini 6A crewmate Wally Schirra (1965)

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  Stafford (right) and Eugene Cernan arrive aboard USS Wasp (1966)

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  Stafford as Apollo 10 Commander (1969)

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  Historic handshake of Stafford (right) and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov during Apollo–Soyuz (1975)

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  LtGen Thomas Stafford (1979)

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  Stafford was presented with the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 12, 2011, at the Moscow Kremlin