Charles P. "Pete" Conrad, a U.S. astronaut, shown suiting up for a 1965 Gemini 5 mission, was the third person to walk on the moon on the Apollo 12 Mission, October 1969.
Conrad, shown here suiting up for his 1965 Gemini 5 mission, went to space four times over an eight-year period.
Conrad, who lived in Huntington Beach near Los Angeles, was on a trip to Monterey with his wife, Nancy, and friends, Ventura County Deputy Coroner James Baroni said.
Baroni said Conrad's injuries didn't initially appear to be severe, but he got worse after arriving at the hospital. He had some chest pain and had more trouble breathing.
"He showed that he had some type of internal bleeding and they needed to do exploratory surgery," Baroni said. But doctors were unable to revive him.
Just this spring, Conrad joked that he was looking forward to the day he would turn 77.
"I fully expect that NASA will send me back to the moon, as they treated Sen. (John) Glenn. And if they don't do otherwise, why, then I'll have to do it myself," he declared.
Glenn became the oldest person in space at age 77 aboard the shuttle Discovery last year. Like Glenn, Conrad's passion for space exploration never diminished. In 1995, he formed several companies with the goal of commercializing space.
NASA selected Conrad, an aeronautical engineer and Navy test pilot, as an astronaut in 1962, three years after the first seven astronauts were announced. He piloted the eight-day Gemini 5 mission in 1965, which set an endurance record in orbiting the earth. A year later, 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, Conrad earned the distinction of being the third man to walk on the moon after bringing the lunar module down in the moon's Ocean of Storms.
The first two moonwalkers were Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who landed there 30 years ago this month, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong's first words became famous: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
When the 5-foot-6 Conrad stepped onto the surface four months later, he exclaimed with his trademark sense of humor: "Whoopie! That may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me."
Conrad and astronaut Alan Bean spent seven hours and 45 minutes on the lunar surface. Among their tasks was installing a nuclear power generating station to provide a power source for long-term experiments.
During the 28-day Skylab flight in May-June 1973, Conrad established a personal endurance record for time in space by 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 the damage 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 Corp. in Denver and later for McDonnell Douglas Corp., the aviation manufacturer.
Among his numerous awards were the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, two Navy Distinguished Service Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. He was enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980.
In 1999. He died on 8 July 1999 at Ventura County, CA; from a motorcycle accident.
