Thursday, June 2, 2016

Pete Conrad, 3rd person to walk on the moon, born in 1930


During the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, Pete Conrad, born June 2, 1930, became the 3rd man to walk on the moon.  He made his first EVA shortly after the lunar module landed in the Ocean of Storms, followed by Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean.  This was Conrad's third space flight having flown on Gemini 5 and Gemini 11.  He later commanded the Skylab 2 mission.

When Pete stepped off the ladder onto the landing pad, he said:
"Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me."

He was referring to his shorter stature compared to Neil Armstrong.  Pete made a $500 bet with Italian reporter Oriana Fallaci that he would say those words, proving that NASA does not write a script for the astronauts.  He never collected on his bet, though.


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