Charles ''Pete'' Conrad, astronaut, 69

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

U.S. Astronaut Conrad Killed In California Crash 
 
OJAI, Calif. (Reuters) - Former Apollo astronaut Charles ''Pete'' Conrad
Jr., who became the third person ever to walk on the moon in 1969, was
killed in a motorcycle accident near the town of Ojai, California
authorities said early Friday. He was 69.

Conrad, of Huntington Beach, was riding his 1996 Harley Davidson Thursday
when he ran off the road on a curve into a drainage culvert and was
ejected into the pavement, the California Highway Patrol said in a
statement.

Conrad was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The preliminary cause
of death was listed as internal injuries, the highway patrol said.

Conrad was a veteran of four space flights, but was best known for his
role as commander of the second lunar landing on Nov. 19, 1969, on the
Apollo 12 mission. U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong had become the first
person to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, followed by crew mate
Edwin ``Buzz'' Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission.

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin paid tribute to Conrad as ''a
cutting-edge pioneer'' and ``a man who was deeply committed to his
country.''

``Pete was developing new commercial ways to open the space frontier,''
Goldin told CNN (Cable News Network).

Goldin noted that Conrad had founded his own company to work on commercial
space ventures.

``He had invented a new rocket that was going to cut the cost and improve
the reliability of going to space,'' Goldin said. ``And there was Pete,
always pushing the boundaries, always coming into my office with a new
idea. And at 69, he had the spirit of a 13 year old.''

Conrad was born on June 2, 1930, in Philadelphia and earned a degree in
aeronautical engineering from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1953.
He became an astronaut in 1962, serving as pilot of the Gemini 5 mission
in 1965, the command pilot of the Gemini 11 mission in 1966, commander of
Apollo 12 three years later and Skylab 2 in 1973.

In his final space mission, Conrad commanded the first crew assigned to
the Skylab space station, which had sustained damage during its launch.
Conrad and his crew repaired the station during three harrowing
spacewalks, saving the program from potential failure. He was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter.

Conrad retired from the U.S. Navy and NASA in 1974. After leaving the
space agency, Conrad devoted his time to developing reusable spacecraft,
first with aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas and later as chief executive
officer of a Newport Beach, California, company called Universal Space
Lines. 



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