posted 09-11-2013 08:19 AM            

• Apollo 1 -
  Grissom-White-Chaffee
  Schirra-Eisele-Cunningham

• Apollo 2 -
  McDivitt-Scott-Schweickart
  Stafford-Young-Cernan

• Apollo 3 -
  Borman-Collins-Anders
  Conrad-Gordon-Williams

posted 09-17-2013 01:33 PM            

Mr. Cassutt are you speculating that the first landing attempt could possibly have been made by Gus Grissom and Donn Eisele? This surprises me as I got the impression from various books that, with respect, Donn Eisele and Walt Cunningham were less well thought of by many in the programme (amongst some very high achievers), and given their lack of rendezvous experience.

Could Gene Cernan not have been held back (following his Gemini 9 and back-up Gemini 12 assignments) to become Grissom's LMP (given his experience) with his place in turn being taken by Al Bean perhaps.

• Apollo 1 Grissom, White, Chaffee
  Backup Schirra, Eisele, Cunningham

• Apollo 2 McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart
  Backup Stafford, Young, BEAN (Then Apollo 5)

• Apollo 3 Borman, Collins, Anders
  Backup Conrad, Gordon, Williams (Then Apollo 6)

• Apollo 4 Armstrong, Aldrin, Cunningham
  Backup Grissom, Lovell, CERNAN (Then Apollo 7)

posted 09-17-2013 07:07 PM            

The first LM test flight was McDivitt's mission so depending on the progess with the LM they might have had their mission put back. Its unlikely that Schirra's crew or a crew commanded by Grissom would have flown the first LM test flight. Its entirely possible that Schirra's crew might have flown Apollo 2 in some sort of Block II test flight, its hard to see where else they could have fitted into the type of missions that followed.

Borman could fly Apollo 3 on a high earth orbital CSM mission with McDivitt taking up Apollo 4 to test the LM in earth orbit.

Stafford would get Apollo 5 on a possible LM lunar test leaving Apollo 6 as a possible last chance to test everything with a Conrad crew or the first lunar landing crew.

Conrad's crew was not in Slayton's mind for the first landing attempt, he had them down as a possible LM test flight or one of the lunar landings following the first landing.

So who would get Apollo 6? Well it probably wouldn't have been Grissom, Lovell, Eisele because Eisele was a CMP so wouldn't have been chosen as a LMP and he would probably have been moved over to the AAP after Apollo 2. Its true that Aldrin moved from being a CMP on the backup crew for Apollo 8 to being the LMP on Apollo 11 but this was possible because he had already served as a LMP on the Apollo 9 backup crew. Eisele was a CMP specialist.

posted 09-17-2013 07:13 PM            

Slayton had it in mind to rotate one of the more experienced Apollo crews back to the front of the of the line so it most likely would have been offered to Borman's, McDivitt's or Stafford's crew.

It makes sense to use an experienced crew and as much as Slayton might have wanted Grissom to make the first landing, he learnt the hard way that there is no room for being sentimental when choosing crews following his choice of See for Gemini 9.

posted 09-18-2013 08:07 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by robsouth:
The one thing that I do doubt is Slayton assigning Grissom to a dedicated spot as the first moon walker. The crew machinations required to pull this off would have been too complicated.

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posted 09-27-2013 03:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Tminus8:
Still surprised by the suggestion that Donn Eisele might have become Grissom's LMP with a shot at the first lunar landing or that Walt Cunningham may have flown as an early LMP when other more experienced men would have been available e.g. Ed White (allowing Aldrin to take a LMP slot), Roger Chaffee or even Al Bean (after his Gemini back-up rendezvous experience).

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Cunningham would have been a logical choice for LMP on a CDR Grissom CMP Lovell team, too, but not as natural a fit.

posted 09-29-2013 07:48 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Tminus8:
Also Mike Collins in his autobiography refers to the difficulties of working with the Schirra, Eisele, Cunningham crew. He says that Cunningham "bitched constantly" and Eisele "didn't quite understand what was going on half the time."

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To say nothing of his comments about Schirra (it seemed pretty clear Mike Collins was not Wally's biggest fan). Cunningham, Collins is a bit less clear on his views of, as he described him as complex - alternating between "genuine warmth and outright hostility."

That said, the 205 crew in general were not happy campers, and rightfully - they were treated like a step-child of 204. Slayton mentions the crew shot off a pretty sharp memo at how planning for the flight was not proceeding well. There didn't seem to be any clear objective, and they just seemed to be a dumping ground for experiments. Slayton and Cunningham both felt Schirra's heart was never in 205. Both noted a change however in Schirra's mentality when the assignment changed to the first post-fire mission.

Donn Eisele on paper looks like he had the potential to be a star in the Astornaut Office. He was a a test pilot and ARPS graduate: those guys (in group 3 and 5) seemed to all rank high on Slayton's list - except Eisele. It always seemed to me he got lost amidst some really type-A personalities in the Astronaut Corps who were more outstanding personalities, and frankly, just better at their jobs. That said, given that background I would not be surprised if Slayton gave him a shot at the LMP seat.