Trivia

Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper).

Became the oldest rookie astronaut at the age of 51 when he was selected to the Apollo/Soyuz mission.

Flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) sometimes known as Apollo 18 as the Docking Module Pilot with mission commander Thomas P. Stafford and command module pilot Vance Brand. The Soviet cosmonauts were 'Alexei Leonov' (First man to walk in space) and Valery N. Kubasov. The flight lasted 9 days (July 15-24, 1975), was the last use of the Apollo era hardware and the last American manned spaceflight until the launch of the first reusable space shuttle in 1981.

Flew the Apollo Soyuz Test Project with Vance Brand and Thomas P. Stafford in 1975 on the last Apollo mission linking up with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.

Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper).