KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility, members of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (RTFTG) look at a Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels with a T-seal held by Tom Roberts, with United Space Alliance. From left are Richard O. Covey, former Space Shuttle commander, Dr. Kathryn Clark, James Adamson, Joe Engle, William Wegner and Dr. Amy Donahue. Chairing the task group are Covey and Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo commander. Chartered by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, the task group will perform an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the final recommendations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility, members of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) look at one of the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels, being shown by Tom Roberts with United Space Alliance, from the orbiter Endeavour. Chairing the task group are Richard O. Covey, former Space Shuttle commander, and Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo commander. Chartered by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, the task group will perform an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the final recommendations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

From left to right, NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, Reid Wiseman, Chief of the Astronaut Office, Apollo Astronaut Tom Stafford, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy pose for a photo as the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard rolls out of High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASA’s Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Astronaut Tom Stafford listens to remarks during Kennedy Space Center's Day of Remembrance ceremony. Held this year in the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, the annual event honors the contributions of all astronauts who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.

Following Kennedy Space Center's Day of Remembrance ceremony in the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy visitor complex, guests including astronauts Tom Stafford, left, and Buzz Aldrin, center, gathered to place flowers at the Space Mirror Memorial. Many of those in attendance were family members of the fallen astronauts.

NASA officials from Headquarters and the astronauts often met with Dr. von Braun in Huntsville, Alabama. This photograph was taken in September 1962 during one such visit. From left to right are Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Wally Schirra, John Glenn, Brainerd Holmes, Dr. von Braun, and Jim Lovell.

Former CNN space correspondent John Zarrella, left, interviews Gemini and Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell, center and Tom Stafford during opening ceremonies for the Heroes and Legends attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The new facility includes the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and looks back to the pioneering efforts of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It sets the stage by providing the background and context for space exploration and the legendary men and women who pioneered the nation's journey into space.

Views of the Apollo 11 Twentieth Anniversary Black Tie reception at the downtown Houston Hyatt Regency Hotel. Views include former JSC Directors Robert Gilruth and Christopher C. Kraft Jr. reminiscing with keynote speaker Walter Cronkite (39934); Apollo astronauts Tom Stafford (left) and Neil Armstrong (right) talk with former Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (center) at the gala (39935).

Former NASA astronaut Gen. Tom Stafford attends an Artemis I guest briefing during launch countdown activities on Aug. 29, 2022, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was waved off for the day. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown.

Former Gemini and Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford speaks during the opening of the tribute exhibition to the Apollo 1 astronauts who perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Roger Chaffee who were lost during the fire. The tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017, 50 years after the crew of three was lost. It features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --Inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, former NASA astronaut and Hall of Famer General Tom Stafford walks the red carpet at the 2014 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. Space shuttle astronauts and space explorers Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross were inducted into the Hall of Fame Class of 2014. The 2014 inductees are selected by a committee of Hall of Fame astronauts, former NASA officials, flight directors, historians and journalists. The process is administered by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. To be eligible, an astronaut must have made his or her first flight at least 17 years before the induction. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen and a NASA-trained commander, pilot or mission specialist who has orbited the earth at least once. Including Lucid and Ross, 87 astronauts have been inducted into the AHOF. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Former Gemini and Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford speaks during the opening of the tribute exhibition to the Apollo 1 astronauts who perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Roger Chaffee who were lost during the fire. The tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017, 50 years after the crew of three was lost. It features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Former Gemini and Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford speaks during the opening of the tribute exhibition to the Apollo 1 astronauts who perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Roger Chaffee who were lost during the fire. The tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017, 50 years after the crew of three was lost. It features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.