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T O P I C R E V I E Wtaneal1Anyone care to speculate on Gus Grissom's career if Shepard hadn't been grounded?Slayton's original plan for Grissom was to fly the 14 day Gemini flight which eventually became Gemini 7. Presumably he would have remained on that flight and participated in the rendezvous with Gemini 6. On to Apollo...In reality he was Schirra's Gemini 6 backup and would have been available for Apollo in the same timeframe in this scenario. Shepard would have gotten the command of Apollo 204 and either Schirra or Grissom would have received Apollo 205, the repeat of the C mission.My opinion is that Schirra would have gotten 205 and Grissom would have been assigned to the more difficult D mission with the first flight of the LM. Following the fire I would think Schirra would receive the first Apollo flight and Grissom would remain on the D mission. However, it's entirely possible considering Grissom's engineering expertise he may have been assigned the first Apollo flight in the belief that he would have gotten Apollo back on track sooner than Schirra.Recall that in reality Schirra had wanted the first D mission but instead received the Apollo 1 backup slot that he dreaded. It seems extremely unlikely Slayton would assign him to "this" D mission. Schirra would most likely be Grissom's backup on the first Apollo flight which became Apollo 7.Wally's response to his backup assignment which in reality occurred prior to the fire would most likely be the same in this scenario making a future Apollo assignment for him extremely unlikely.Flying either the first Apollo or the D mission would have put Grissom in a fine position to continue on to attempt the first lunar landing.Any thoughts?TomJohn K. RochesterAnything could have happened.. possibly if Shepard was in the Cmdr seat during the A-204 plugs-out, and experienced the rash of problems they had all day..he may have just gotten out, and told them the crew would be back when they got their "feces together" ( edit for housedad).. ahhhh,if only we could go back.J_GeentyWith no evidnece to back it up, I would have thought that Wally would fly Apollo 7, Gus does backup on 8 to get some LM time under his belt and then is prime CDR for Apollo 11. For Gus to go Prime 7 to Prime 11 would have been a tough training cycle, not impossible, just tough. Gus has already done a long duration flight in this "what if" so why have him to another one and upset the rotation. However, with Grissom backing up Apollo 8, would he get shifted to Apollo 9 when the 8/9 switch occurs in 1968? Would Grissom be prepared to do a backup job, especially for Borman? If it meant being first on the moon, probably, but you never know. If Grissom did live then Gordo Cooper wouldn't have gotten another assignment. With an extra CDR in the mix, the Apollo 10 gap doesn't appear and Gordo finishes up with GT-12 backup CDR. It would also have probably put Neil Armstrong on Apollo 13.
Slayton's original plan for Grissom was to fly the 14 day Gemini flight which eventually became Gemini 7. Presumably he would have remained on that flight and participated in the rendezvous with Gemini 6. On to Apollo...
In reality he was Schirra's Gemini 6 backup and would have been available for Apollo in the same timeframe in this scenario. Shepard would have gotten the command of Apollo 204 and either Schirra or Grissom would have received Apollo 205, the repeat of the C mission.
My opinion is that Schirra would have gotten 205 and Grissom would have been assigned to the more difficult D mission with the first flight of the LM.
Following the fire I would think Schirra would receive the first Apollo flight and Grissom would remain on the D mission. However, it's entirely possible considering Grissom's engineering expertise he may have been assigned the first Apollo flight in the belief that he would have gotten Apollo back on track sooner than Schirra.
Recall that in reality Schirra had wanted the first D mission but instead received the Apollo 1 backup slot that he dreaded. It seems extremely unlikely Slayton would assign him to "this" D mission. Schirra would most likely be Grissom's backup on the first Apollo flight which became Apollo 7.
Wally's response to his backup assignment which in reality occurred prior to the fire would most likely be the same in this scenario making a future Apollo assignment for him extremely unlikely.
Flying either the first Apollo or the D mission would have put Grissom in a fine position to continue on to attempt the first lunar landing.
Any thoughts?
Tom
However, with Grissom backing up Apollo 8, would he get shifted to Apollo 9 when the 8/9 switch occurs in 1968? Would Grissom be prepared to do a backup job, especially for Borman? If it meant being first on the moon, probably, but you never know.
If Grissom did live then Gordo Cooper wouldn't have gotten another assignment. With an extra CDR in the mix, the Apollo 10 gap doesn't appear and Gordo finishes up with GT-12 backup CDR. It would also have probably put Neil Armstrong on Apollo 13.
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