Clifford Eugene Charlesworth was born on November 29, 1931, in
Red Wing, Minnesota, and grew up in Mississippi. He completed his education at
Mississippi College with a
bachelor's degree in
physics in 1958. After a time as a civil servant with the
United States Navy and the
Pershing missile program of the
United States Army, he joined
NASA in 1962. He worked at the
Manned Spacecraft Center in
Houston, Texas, until 1970. He served as the
Flight Director on
Gemini 11 and
Gemini 12, and as one of the Flight Directors on
Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon;
Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the Moon; and
Apollo 12, the second Moon landing mission. From 1970 to 1972 he was manager of the
Earth observation satellite program. He then worked as Deputy Head of the Payload Section of the
Space Shuttle program, as Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center and as Director of Space Operations before he retired in 1988. For his services to NASA, Charlesworth was awarded the agency's
Exceptional Service Medal in 1969,
Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1981 and
Distinguished Service Medal in 1982. He was a member of the
American Astronautical Society and the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ==Notes==