Astronaut Thomas Stafford, Commander of Apollo 10, Has Died at Age 93

Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, near the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever in the Gulf of Mexico during training on Aug. 23, 1965. NASA via AP

WASHINGTON—Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, who commanded a dress rehearsal flight for the 1969 moon landing and the first U.S.–Soviet space linkup, died Monday. He was 93.

Mr. Stafford, a retired Air Force three-star general, took part in four space missions. Before Apollo 10, he flew on two Gemini flights, including the first rendezvous of two U.S. capsules in orbit. He died in a hospital near his Space Coast Florida home, said Max Ary, director of the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma.