Page 147 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

was admitted to Princeton University, but he was also awarded a full Navy ROTC scholarship. While at
Darrow, although he was only 5'6" and weighed 135 pounds, Conrad started as the center on his
football team and became the team captain. "He was a very tough boy, and we won our share of
games," said the school's assistant headmaster.

Starting when he was 15 years old, Conrad worked during the summertime at the Paoli Airfield
near Paoli, Pennsylvania, bartering lawn mowing, sweeping, and other odd jobs for airplane flights and
occasional instructional time. He learned more about the mechanics and workings of aircraft and aircraft
engines, and then he graduated to minor maintenance work. When he was 16, he drove almost 100
miles to help a flight instructor whose airplane had been forced to make an emergency landing. Conrad
repaired the plane single-handedly. Thereafter, the instructor gave Conrad the flight lessons that he
needed to earn his pilot's certificate even before he graduated from high school.

Conrad continued flying while he was in college, not only keeping his pilot's certificate, but also earning
an instrument flight rating. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical
engineering from Princeton in 1953, and was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy as a Naval ROTC
graduate.

Following his commission in 1953, Conrad was sent to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, for flight
training. He was also trained at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. He was designated a Naval
Aviator in September 1954 and became a fighter pilot. He excelled in Navy flight school, and he served
for several years as an aircraft carrier-based fighter pilot in the Navy. Conrad also served as a flight
instructor in Navy flight schools along the Gulf of Mexico.
Next, Conrad applied for and he was accepted by the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, Patuxent, Maryland. His classmates were future fellow astronauts Wally
Schirra and Jim Lovell. He graduated in 1958, as part of Class 20, and was assigned as a Project Test
Pilot.

Conrad joined NASA as part of the second group of astronauts, known as the New Nine, on September
17, 1962. Conrad tested many spacecraft systems essential to the Apollo program. He was also one of
the smallest of the astronauts, so he found the confinement of the Gemini capsule less onerous than his
th
Commander Gordon Cooper (7 cousin, 1 time removed), who played American football, did. He was
then named Commander of the Gemini 8 backup crew, and later Commander of Gemini 11 with
pilot Richard Gordon.
On November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 was launched with Conrad as Commander, Dick Gordon as Command
th
Module Pilot, and Alan Bean (10 cousin, 2 times removed) as Lunar Module Pilot. The launch was the
most harrowing of the Apollo program, as a series of lightning strikes just after liftoff temporarily
knocked out power and guidance in the Command Module. Five days later, after stepping onto the lunar
surface, Conrad joked about his own small stature by remarking:

“Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me.”
Conrad died on July 8, 1999, from internal injuries sustained in a motorcycle
accident. While traveling with his wife and friends from his Huntington Beach home
to Monterey, California, his motorcycle crashed on a turn. He was wearing a helmet
at the time and was operating within the speed limit. He was buried with full
honors at Arlington National Cemetery, with many Apollo-era astronauts in
attendance.
References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Learn more – Astronaut Profile – Pete Conrad
4. LDS Family Tree attached

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