On September 17, 1930, Thomas P. Stafford was born, a man who became an American astronaut and then the first general in space. Namely, it was Stafford, on the Apollo-Soyuz mission from 1975, who became the first person with the rank of general ever launched into space (then he had the rank of brigadier general in the US Air Force).
Thomas P. Stafford was born in the small town of Weatherford, Oklahoma, a hundred miles from the border with Texas. Today, General Stafford is very famous in his hometown. Namely, the local airport (Thomas P. Stafford Airport) is named after him, as well as the museum dedicated to aviation and space (Stafford Air & Space Museum).
In 1952, Stafford was hired as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He completed advanced interceptor training and worked at Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) in South Dakota and at Hahn Air Force Base in Germany, where he flew an F-86D. He graduated from the California Air Force Pilot School in 1959, receiving the AB Honts Award as an outstanding graduate that year.
He was an instructor in flight training and specialized academic subjects — he established basic textbooks and directed the writing of flight exam manuals for use by staff and students. Stafford is the author of the Pilot Manual for Flight Performance Testing and the Aerodynamic Manual for Flight Performance Testing. It has flown over 110 different types of aircraft and has over 7,100 flight hours.
Stafford joined NASA in 1962, having previously been a test pilot of the United States Air Force (USAF). Stafford has been in space four times (Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10 and Apollo-Soyuz missions).
Stafford is also one of three people who, according to the Guinness Book of Records, hold an absolute record in the speed of space flight. Namely, Apollo 10, which was commanded by Stafford, achieved a higher speed than any other manned spacecraft in history when returning from the Moon's orbit to Earth. During his career, Stafford reached the rank of general with as many as three stars. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, where he worked closely with Soviet Commander Alexei Leonov).
In June 1990, Thomas Stafford chaired a team that independently advised NASA on how to implement President HW Bush’s vision of returning to the Moon and then continue to explore Mars. It brought together teams of 40 permanent and 150 part-time members from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and NASA to complete a study called “America on the Threshold,” a roadmap for the next 30 years of the U.S. manned space flight program. In 1994, Stafford chaired a committee to review and make recommendations for improving the effectiveness of NASA's research and development initiatives.
Stafford is a co-founder of the Technical Consulting Firm Stafford, Burke and Hecker, Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia. He has advised a number of government agencies, including NASA and the Air Force System Command.
In addition to being only the eighth person to win a Congressional Space Medal of Honor, General Stafford also has two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Outstanding Service Medals, a Distinguished Air Force Medal with three clusters of oak leaves, a distinguished air flying strength Cross with one cluster of oak leaves, the Award for Outstanding Air Force Units with one cluster of oak leaves, a medal of commendation of the Air Force and the wings of astronomical air force commanders. He currently lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
