The late Charles "Pete" Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, was born on June 2, 1930, in Philadelphia, PA.

At an early age, he developed a propensity for flying, learning to fly as a teenager. He graduated from Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and went on to Princeton University.

Conrad received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1953 and an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1966, from Princeton University. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1971.

After graduating, Pete Conrad enlisted in the Navy to obtain his wings. He attended the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland. When he had completed his training there, he served as a test pilot with the Armaments Division of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, where he conducted experimental flights on newly engaged naval aircraft.

From 1959-1961, he was a flight instructor and engineer at Patuxent River. He taught others to fly naval fighter planes, such as the F4H, at the Naval Air Station at Miramar, California. He also served on board the USS Ranger. Charles Conrad was an experienced naval aviator and he went on to use his knowledge and expertise to see the world in an entirely new way.

In September of 1962, NASA selected Pete Conrad as one of eight, into their Astronaut Program. At that time, he had a total of three-thousand hours of flying time to his credit, with twenty-one-hundred of those hours in flying jets. He also held the distinction at the time, of the only astronaut to have graduated from an Ivy League College.

Conrad's first flight occurred on August 21, 1965, aboard Gemini 5. Along with fellow astronaut Gordon Cooper, he set a new space endurance record and placed the United States in the lead for man-hours in space. The Gemini 5 spacecraft orbited the Earth 120 times.

The flight lasted for 7 days, twenty-two hours, fifty-five  minutes, and 14 seconds

The crew of Gemini 11, Astronauts Conrad and Gordon practiced docking, performed extravehicular activities, EVA's, and conducted a manuever called high apogee excursion, while docked with another Gemini rocket.

They also conducted eleven different experiments and conducted a tethered vehicle test. Pete Conrad's second Gemini mission was a success.

The flight lasted for 2 days, twenty-three hours, 17 minutes, and 8 seconds. 

On November 14, 1969, thirty seconds into the launch, the Apollo 12 spacecraft was by lightning. As the Saturn rocket booster raced through the rain clouds, it became the world's longest lightning rod. Despite this near disaster, Apollo 12 landed on the moon with pinpoint accuracy, within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 lunar vehicle that landed on the Oceans of Storms on April 20, 1969.

As Pete Conrad stepped down off the ladder of the lunar excursion module, he proclaimed, *"Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me."

While on the Moon’s surface, Conrad and Bean set up the ALSEP, the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, which measured the strength of solar wind, the solar magnetic field, and the Earth’s magnetic effect on the Moon.

Apollo 12 splashed down on November 24, 1969. The Apollo 12 lunar landing mission was more of a scientific exploration mission than the Apollo 11 space flight had been. Because of the experiments conducted by Conrad on his space flights, scientists made major strides in the exploration of the Moon, the study of the Sun, and of the planets in our Solar System.

The astronauts collected valuable information for possible space flights in the future to other planets.

Skylab 2 was the first manned mission of the Skylab Project. Soon after its launch, the Skylab Space Station's meteoroid shield ripped off taking one of the craft's two solar panels with it; a piece of the shield wrapped around the other panel keeping it from deploying.

With fellow astronauts Paul J. Weitz and Joseph P. Kerwin, Pete Conrad made substantial repairs to the damaged Skylab Station. The Skylab 2 Crew conducted solar astronomy and Earth resources experiments, medical studies, and five student experiments. After 404 orbits and 392 experiment hours were completed; including three EVAs totalling six hours, 20 minutes, Conrad and his crew returned to Earth on June 22, 1973.

Among numerous awards, Pete Conrad earned the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, the Navy Astronaut Wings, two Navy Distinguished Service Medals, and two Distinguished Flying Crosses.

In December of 1973, after serving 20 years in the Navy, eleven of those as an astronaut in the space program, Conrad retired and became as VP of Operations for the American Television and Communications Corporation. In 1978, Pete Conrad became VP of marketing for Douglas Aircraft Company, and went on to become Senior VP in 1980.

On July 8, 1999, Conrad, a US Navy pilot and US astronaut, died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

more than1179 hours in space

more than 4 of those hours spent on extra-vehicular activities (EVA's)

* According to Air and Space Magazine, Conrad's:

"'whoopee' was apparently done to win a bet with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who was convinced that Armstrong's 'small ste' quotes was scripted by NASA and not something he crafted. The bet was made during a pre-flight interview Fallaci did with Conrad, but only revealed many years later."