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[i]Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell were originally the backup crew for Apollo 9 and thus supposed to fly on Apollo 12. But the crews of Apollo 8 and 9 were swapped, along with the backup crews. Otherwise, all things being equal, a guy named Pete Conrad would have been first on the Moon. So now you got Armstrong, Aldrin, and Lovell serving as backups for Apollo 8. Then the Command Module Pilot for the mission, Mike Collins, had medical complications and had to be bumped from the crew. So Lovell moved up to the main crew and rookie Fred Haise took his place on the backup crew. While Apollo 8 is flying around the Moon, Deke Slayton calls Neil Armstrong into his office to discuss Apollo 11 assignments. Armstrong is set to be Commander, it's just a matter of choosing the other two members. Aldrin and Haise had been with Armstrong on the backup crew. But Mike Collins' medical complications were over, so Slayton wanted to put him in the next available slot, which was as on Apollo 11. Armstrong agreed. Then Slayton brought up Aldrin and how other Commanders had issues with various questions he was always pursuing, viewing it as undermining their authority. If that was the case, Slayton said, then he'd offer Lovell in place of Aldrin. Armstrong thought it over for a day and then decided to stick with Aldrin, because he wasn't bothered by his questions and felt Lovell, who would be on fourth space flight, deserved his own command.[/i]
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