Making history in space
In his 27 years as an officer in the United States Air Force, Lieutenant General Thomas Stafford was a member of the crew on four historic NASA missions in space and was involved in some of the most thrilling moments in space exploration.
General Stafford was the pilot of Gemini VI during the first rendezvous in space and he commanded Gemini IX. In May of 1969 he was the commander of Apollo 10 which orbited the Moon. General Stafford logged his fourth space flight commanding the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint space flight culminating in the historic first meeting in space of American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.
Thomas Stafford was in Switzerland to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which was made possible in part by his contributions. He talked about his life as a space pioneer.
General Stafford, how did it feel to be part of Apollo 10, to be one of the people who made the Moon landings possible?
Well, it felt good. It was a new mission and a new exploration that had never been done before! When I flew as Commander of Apollo 10, Gene Cernan, John Young and I orbited the Moon and Gene and I got within about nine miles of the surface with a lunar module. Our lunar module was too heavy to land, or maybe we would have had the potential of landing. Anyway, we had the chance to pick out a landing ellipse. We also did the first rendezvous around the Moon stage.
What were your thoughts when you saw the Moon up close for the first time?
It was unique, I tell you! It was awesome as we approached it. In our briefings we had been told that we would not see the Mon until we got there, because the Moon was in eclipse from the Earth. And as we got further out, Earth kept getting smaller and smaller. And we kept looking for the Moon. So we called back and said, “Guys, we’ll take your word it’s out there but we haven’t seen it yet!”
“The Earth looks like it is suspended in space. I always had the feeling that there should be a string holding it up, or a pole!”
Finally we got about forty to fifty thousand miles out and we could see just a little sliver of it. And then later the sun went down and it was just a black place in the sky – a black hole in the sky. All the stars were around us. And then the Earth went down; Earth disappeared.
At that point we were in total blackness – we were upside down going backwards – and suddenly about one minute before the time to turn on the engine and break in a little bit over here, the Moon came up right underneath us. It was an unforgettable experience!
What does Earth look like from space?
It looks beautiful; it’s unbelievable! Only 24 of us ever saw that from out there. The Earth looks like it is suspended in space and I always had the feeling that there should be a string holding it up, or a pole!
Does it surprise you that forty years on, the Moon landings still excite people?
It does sometimes but I can understand it. It was one of the most unique events in human history. And we did it publicly and in such a short period of time.
What happened to your original OMEGA Speedmaster?
One of them is in the OMEGA Museum in Biel (Switzerland). The other ones are in the Smithsonian – in the National Air and Space Museum.
