RIP Thomas Stafford 1930-2024, NASA astronaut

[pinball1970]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-administrator-pays-tribute-to-space-pioneer-thomas-stafford/

 

[sbrothy]

https://www.staffordmuseum.org/general-stafford-obituary

EDIT:

"Few people know that during this time, General Stafford was the Commanding General of “AREA-51”, one of the world’s most top-secret test facilities, located in the Nevada desert. There he received his first glimpse of the new, little known experimental technology called Stealth.[...]"

 

[Astronuc]

https://www.staffordmuseum.org/general-stafford-obituary

From the biography in the link:

In May 1969, Stafford commanded the Apollo 10 mission to the moon, and was the first man to pilot a Lunar Module (LM) into lunar orbit. He was one of only 24 humans to venture into deep space to explore another celestial body. During reentry, Stafford and his crew of Gene Cernan and John Young set the all-time human speed record of 24,791 mph, or nearly 7 miles/second. After more than a half century, they still hold the ultimate human speed record that may not be surpassed until a crew returns from a trip to Mars!