Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 05-19-2005 11:30 PM               

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I was leafing through "Deke!" again and I came on an offhand comment that confused me. I'm sure the topic has been covered here before (and it's not the first time I've been confused) BUT:

One of the reasons Gordo Cooper was a "hard sell to management" was because of "strap it on and go" approach to training. So why, on page 155 of "Deke!", does Slayton mention the exhausting 16-hour days Cooper and Conrad are putting in?

Did Cooper train or not? If he did (as "DEKE!" says) why was he pretty much canned? He performed well in space.

Posts: 438
From: NSW, Australia
Registered: May 2005

posted 05-20-2005 06:47 AM               

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Apparently Cooper did not give his y'all to the backup training. Deke maintained that the backup crew had to be as ready as the prime.

This apparently went against Cooper, and he was eased out.

Mind you, this is from what I have read; the only people who can really say what happened are the astronauts themselves.

Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005