Charles Peter Conrad Jr. American astronaut Date of Birth: 02.06.1930 Country: USA

Biography of Charles Peter Conrad

Charles Peter Conrad was an American astronaut and the third person to set foot on the surface of the Moon. He was born on June 2, 1930, in Philadelphia. In 1953, he graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. Later that year, Conrad joined the United States Navy and attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, where he served as a test pilot.

In 1960-1961, Conrad became a pilot instructor at the United States Naval Test Pilot School. In 1962, he was selected by NASA to be part of the second group of astronauts. Conrad went on to complete four space missions.

His first flight took place from August 21 to 28, 1965, as the pilot of the Gemini 5 mission. His second flight was from September 12 to 15, 1966, as the commander of the Gemini 11 spacecraft. In November 1969, just a few months after the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, the Apollo 12 mission was sent to the Moon for geographical and scientific research. Conrad served as the commander of Apollo 12, with Richard Gordon as the command module pilot and Alan Bean as the lunar module pilot. Conrad became the third person to set foot on the Moon, spending a total of eight hours on its surface. The Apollo 12 crew spent over a day on the Moon, collecting and bringing back 34 kilograms of lunar samples.

For his achievements, Conrad was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1970. After the Moon landing, he participated in the development of the first American space station, Skylab. He commanded the Skylab 2 mission, the first expedition to the station, which lasted for 28 days from May 24 to June 22, 1973.

Unfortunately, on July 8, 1999, Conrad was involved in a motorcycle accident on a mountain road in California, sustaining injuries to his chest and abdomen. He passed away shortly after in the hospital. In December 2002, the Charles Conrad Awards were established in the United States to recognize amateur astronomers for their discoveries of asteroids with orbits that pass in close proximity to Earth's orbit.