Trivia

He flew with Pete Conrad twice. On Gemini 11 they docked with the Agena target vehicle immediately after achieving orbit as in a lunar mission. In Apollo 12 he, Alan Bean and Richard Gordon conducted the second trip to the moon bringing back lunar rocks and pieces of the Surveyor 3 probe. On the Apollo 12 flight the command module was called the Yankee Clipper while the lunar module was designated the Intrepid.

After retiring from NASA and the US Navy, he was executive vice president of the New Orleans Saints. He also held executive positions at several companies in the oil and gas, engineering and technology industries.

He graduated from North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington. He received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1951.