RIP Thomas Stafford: Apollo 10 Astronaut Legend Soars To The Stars One Last Time

With a saddened heart, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the passing of fellow astronaut Thomas Stafford. Stafford was among the second group of astronauts to participate in Projects Gemini and Apollo, and piloted the first rendezvous in space aboard Gemini VI.

Stafford, perhaps best known for his pioneering efforts in developing techniques to prove the basic theory and practicality of space rendezvous, was commander of Apollo 10, which was the first flight of the lunar module to the moon. While that mission did not include landing on the lunar surface, it was vital in determining the first lunar landing site. General Stafford also made the Guinness Book of World Records for highest speed ever attained by man that occurred during Apollo 10 reentry when the spacecraft reached 24,791 statute miles per hour, according to NASA.

In a statement, Nelson remarked, “Today, General Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens, which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as well as a peacemaker in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Those of us privileged to know him are very sad but grateful we knew a giant.”

Nelson painted an eloquent picture of Stafford, saying he was “a gentleman and a daredevil.” He noted Stafford’s Gemini 9 mission, where the late astronaut used a pencil and paper to determine a path to Earth when the spacecraft’s guidance computer failed in orbit. He also made note of Stafford’s ability to be a peacemaker. Stafford commanded NASA’s first rendezvous of an international spacecraft on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, and later became best friends with his counterpart, General Alexi Leonov.


Administrator Nelson quoted Stafford concerning his time in space, remarking, “It changes you, oh sure. Changes your outlook…As you look back, you see a little blue and white baseball, actually, it’s smaller than a baseball. But it’s hard to envision that is where all the people you’ve known all your life are, where you went to school, your friends, your family. It’s also hard to envision that there are three billion people on that blue and white baseball.”

General Stafford was born on September 17, 1930, in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Nelson closed his statement about Stafford’s passing by, simply remarking, “Godspeed, Tom Stafford.” Godspeed indeed, General.