Mission Accomplished by Pete Conrad, Crew

Saying he’s already looking for the next challenge, a weary Pete Conrad of Huntington Beach arrived at Denver’s Centennial Airport on Wednesday morning after breaking an around-the-world speed record in a Lear jet.

It was a tighter race than expected for the Apollo XII astronaut and three crew mates, who beat by one hour and one minute the record set 13 years ago by Los Angeles aviator Brooke Knapp.

Hampered by a broken radio and lack of tail winds over Alaska, Conrad and crew arrived at 4:28:42 a.m., which was 49 hours, 21 minutes and 42 seconds after they left the same airport Monday morning for the east-west journey. Their average speed was 475 mph. Official confirmation of the time is expected in a few days.

Conrad, 65, who was profiled Sunday in Life & Style, said he and his crew scrambled around “like a pit crew at the Indy” when they had to install a backup, high-frequency radio midair over the Atlantic Ocean.