posted 10-03-2018 09:15 AM
A few pieces of information regarding crew assignment, but nothing conclusive.In Joe Engle's JSC oral history interview, he states: "In fact, I think, as I recall, my first meaningful assignment after our astronaut training session year was to be assigned to the crew of — it was called 2TV-1, a thermal vacuum test." But nothing more.
I couldn't find any news release, announcement or any mention of 2TV-1 crew assignment in MSC roundups. No luck in JSC archives either, no memorandum or report could be found.
But here are a few elements that may shed some light about crew assignment.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to interview Neil Anderson, member of Flight Crews Support Division back in the 60's, and crew member for the SC-008 thermal vacuum test in 1966. He told me that he was assigned to the crew about six months before the actual test.
After some digging in my own records, I found notes that Ed Hengeveld sent me in 2001 regarding the CSM thermal vacuum test program (S/C-008 and 2TV-1).
Among them was a 1999 email interview of Joe Kerwin, by Ed. To the question "How long before June 1968 were you named to the crew ?" he answered "Don't remember exactly. A fairly long time, though, because I participated fully in spacecraft checkout at Downey." Later on, he states that: "It was after Apollo 1 that I was assigned to lead the 2TV-1 (S/C-098) crew."
I also have a report from JSC titled "Crew Training Program For 2TV-1 Thermal Vacuum Test" dated June 1968. Crew training stared two and a half months before the test, so late March 1968.
Robert Wren (manager of 2TV-1 test program) also mentions in his oral history that 2TV-1 was scheduled one year before the actual test began, and that the crew spent some time in Downey.
I guess we can assume that the crew was assigned to 2TV-1 in the summer of 1967, shortly after NASA decided to run the test, and after Engle and Brand initial training.