Astronaut Gen. Thomas Stafford dies at 93

NASA astronaut Gen. Thomas Stafford died Monday at age 93, a press release from the Stafford Air and Space Museum confirmed.

After graduating from the Naval Academy and becoming a pilot in the Air Force, Stafford was selected as an astronaut for the Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960s.

Stafford conducted the first space rendevous in 1965 and helped improve the practice for future missions.

He was part of Apollo X, which performed the entire moon landing mission except for the actual moon landing as a rehearsal for Apollo XI. He was one of only 24 astronauts who flew to the moon.

He then became deputy director of flight crew operations for NASA.

During his fourth space flight, he met Soviet cosmonauts during the Soyuz Test Project mission in space, which began a time of cooperation in space explorations.