Like many baby-boomers, Gordon was a witness to, and was enthralled with America’s travels into space and to the moon. As an amateur astronomer, the space program sparked his imagination, and ignited the desire to reach the stars himself. He was enchanted with the idea of at least going to space after he passed away.
Beyond his enchantment with spaceflight, Gordon was an avid reader, a student of history, and a demonstrated talent in the culinary arts. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of music, and a love for all genres of music. And he loved his family beyond measure.
Gordon lived most of his adult life in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. with his wife and their four children. As a child and son of a career naval officer, born in a naval hospital, he lived in various postings in the U.S., Naples, Italy, and Paris, France. These childhood experiences had a profound, lifelong effect upon him.