`Pete' Conrad, Third To Walk On Moon, Dies -- Former Astronaut Killed In Motorcycle Crash

OJAI, Calif. - Charles "Pete" Conrad, the Apollo 12 astronaut who was the third man to set foot on the moon, died yesterday after losing control of his motorcycle on a mountain road near Ojai, authorities said.

Mr. Conrad, 69, who also flew two Gemini missions in the 1960s and commanded the first Skylab mission in 1973, died at Ojai Valley Hospital, five hours after crashing his 1996 Harley on California Highway 150 about three miles east of Ojai.

Flags at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and at Johnson Space Center in Houston flew at half-staff today in observance of Mr. Conrad's death.

Daniel Goldin, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, paid tribute to Mr. Conrad as "a cutting-edge pioneer" and "a man who was deeply committed to his country."

Mr. Conrad, who lived in Huntington Beach, was on a trip to Monterey with his wife, Nancy, and friends, said James Baroni, a Ventura County deputy coroner.

Baroni said Mr. Conrad's wife and friends, who were also on motorcycles, saw the accident and summoned an ambulance but did not realize the extent of his injuries.

"He apparently flew off and landed on his chest and had some scrapes and bruises and a little difficulty breathing, but he was able to walk around and talk," Baroni said. An ambulance crew "figured he had some broken ribs" and took him to the emergency room, Baroni said.

At the hospital, his condition deteriorated and doctors discovered he had internal bleeding. He died during surgery.

Mr. Conrad, a native of Philadelphia, graduated from Princeton University with a degree in aeronautical engineering. He joined the Navy after college and became a test pilot. He and his first wife, Jane DuBose, raised four sons before divorcing in 1990.

NASA selected Mr. Conrad as an astronaut in 1962. He piloted the eight-day Gemini 5 mission in 1965, which set an endurance record in orbiting Earth. A year later, Mr. Conrad commanded Gemini 11, which docked with another craft during orbit and set a space altitude record of 850 miles.

As commander of the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, he became the third man to walk on the moon, after bringing the lunar module down on the moon's Ocean of Storms.

The first two moonwalkers were Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who landed there on July 20, 1969. Armstrong's first words became famous: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

When the 5-foot-6 Mr. Conrad stepped onto the surface four months later, he exclaimed with his trademark sense of humor: "Whoopee! That may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me."

Mr. Conrad and astronaut Alan Bean spent seven hours and 45 minutes on the lunar surface. They installed a nuclear-power generating station to provide a power source for long-term experiments.

In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Conrad recalled seeing Earth from the moon, remembering that "the Earth resembled a beautiful blue marble suspended against a black velvet blanket."

During the 28-day Skylab flight in May-June 1973, Mr. Conrad established a personal endurance record for time in space, bringing his total flight time to 1,179 hours and 38 minutes. He called his last mission in space the most satisfying, working to repair damage that Skylab suffered during its liftoff.

After retiring from NASA and the Navy in 1973, he worked as chief operating officer of American Television and Communications in Denver. He then worked at McDonnell Douglas for 20 years before retiring in 1996. He recently founded his own company to work on commercial space ventures.

Over the years, he helped with projects to get children interested in space. He published spaceman-oriented comic books featuring "Commander Pete," his cartoon persona.

Mr. Conrad once said he had lost friends, test pilots, who were killed on dangerous missions. But he said that in his own life no loss had been more painful than the death of his son Christopher in 1990 of bone cancer.

Mr. Conrad is survived by his second wife, Nancy, three adult sons - Peter, Thomas and Andrew - and seven grandchildren.

Material from Reuters is included in this report.