Tom Stafford, one of the last Gemini astronauts. Now only three remain alive, Jim Lovell, Dave Scott and Buzz Aldrin.

*****

Tom Stafford died on March 18, 2024, at the age of 93.  Thomas P. Stafford is the history of the space program, from his section as an astronaut through four spaceflights to what may be called is final mission:  In October 2019, a month after his 89th birthday, he flew to Moscow to attend the funeral of cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov at which he spoke in Russian, calling Leonov his “my colleague and friend.”  The two had commanded the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, pathfinding the cooperation that continues aboard the International Space Station.

Yet let’s return Tom Stafford to his younger days and a flight he didn’t make.  It’s his 33rd birthday — September 17, 1963 — and the word knocking around NASA, not official yet, is that he will become the first astronaut from the second astronaut group, selected in 1962, to fly.  He’s been paired with Alan Shepard for the first manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3.  That’s how highly he is regarded.

Alas, Alan Shepard has a secret that, try as he does, cannot remain secret.  Just six weeks into training, Shepard is grounded.  He is suffering a chronic condition called Meniere’s disease, a fluid build-up in the inner ear that causes dizzy spells.  The team of Shepard and Stafford is replaced by Gus Grissom and John Young.  

Tom Stafford will have to wait until Gemini 6 in December 1965 before flying with Wally Schirra, making in the first rendezvous in space.  The next year he will command Gemini 9, practicing multiple rendezvous techniques.  In May 1969, he will command Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for the first moon landing.  Yet let’s leave him in late 1963, a young pilot with a brilliant future extending into the next century.