1969 Orig Photo Charles Conrad Jr. Astronaut

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1969 Orig Photo Charles Conrad Jr. Astronaut [Our Part Number: dfpx35881] You are bidding on a 1969 Orig Photo Charles Conrad Jr. Astronaut . Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. (June 2, 1930 July 8, 1999), was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon. He also described himself as the first man to dance on the Moon. He flew on the Gemini 5 and 11, Apollo 12, and Skylab 2 missions.On the launch of his Gemini 5 flight on August 21, 1965, Conrad became the 10th American and the 20th human to fly in space.Contents[hide] 1 Early life and Navy career 2 NASA career 2.1 Gemini 2.2 Apollo 2.3 Skylab 3 Post-NASA 4 Personal life 5 Death 6 Popular culture 7 In television and film 8 Quotes 9 Tribute 10 Pete Conrad Spirit Award 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 External links Early life and Navy careerCharles Pete Conrad, Jr. was born on June 2, 1930, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the third child and first son of Charles Conrad Sr. and Frances De Rappelage Conrad (ne Vinson), a well-to-do real estate and banking family. His mother wanted very much to name her newborn son Peter, but Charles insisted that his first son bear his name. In a compromise between two iron wills, the name on his birth certificate would read Charles Conrad, Jr. but to his mother and virtually all who knew him, he was Peter. When he was 21, his fiances father called him Pete and thereafter, Conrad adopted it. For the rest of his life, to virtually everyone, he was Pete.[1]The Great Depression wiped out the Conrad familys fortune, as it did so many others. In 1942, they lost their Philadelphia manor home and moved into a small carriage house, paid for by Frances brother, Egerton Vinson. Eventually, Charles Sr., broken by financial failure, moved out.[2]From the beginning, Conrad was clearly a bright, intelligent child, but he continually struggled with his schoolwork. He suffered from dyslexia, a condition which was little understood at the time. Conrad attended The Haverford School, a private academy in Haverford, Pennsylvania where previous generations of Conrads had attended. Even after his familys financial downturn, his uncle Egerton supported his continued attendance at Haverford. However, Conrads dyslexia continued to frustrate his academic efforts. After he failed most of his 11th grade exams, Haverford expelled him.[3]Conrads mother refused to believe her son was unintelligent, and set about finding him a suitable school. She found the Darrow School in New Lebanon, New York. There, Conrad learned how to apply a systems approach to learning, and thus, found a way to work around his dyslexia. Despite having to repeat the 11th grade, Conrad so excelled at Darrow that after his graduation in 1949, he not only was admitted to Princeton University, but he was also awarded a full Navy ROTC scholarship in the bargain.[4]Starting when he was fifteen, Conrad worked summers at Paoli Airfield near Philadelphia, trading lawn mowing, sweeping, and other odd jobs for airplane rides and occasional stick time. As he grew, and learned more about the mechanics and workings of aircraft and their engines, he graduated to minor repairs and maintenance. When he was 16, he drove almost 100 miles (160 km) to assist a flight instructor whose plane had been forced to make an emergency landing due to a throttle malfunction. Conrad repaired the plane single-handedly. Thereafter, the instructor gave Conrad the formal lessons he needed to earn his pilots license even before he graduated from high school.[5]Conrad continued flying while in college, not only maintaining his pilots license, but earning an instrument rating as well. He earned his bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University in 1953, after which he entered the United States Navy. [R 83] Conrad excelled in Navy flight school, and became a carrier pilot, known by the call sign Squarewave. Later, he became a flight instructor and a test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.[6]Conrad was invited to participate i... read more

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