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posted 04-16-2003 12:38 AM               

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OK, I spent a little time thinking about this (i'm bored-no homework tonight, lol). Let's assume that Apollo 17 had it's original crew of:
CDR: Eugene Cernan
CMP: Ronald Evans
LMP: Joe Engle

Then, we must look at the planned crews for Apollo 18 & 19, I believe they were as follows:
Apollo 18
CDR: Richard Gordon
CMP: Vance Brand
LMP: Harrison Schmitt

Apollo 19
CDR: Fred Haise
CMP: William Pogue
LMP: Gerald Carr

Then, after looking at the three previous crews, I figure the crew of Apollo 20 would be the following:
CDR: Stu Roosa
CMP: Don Lind
LMP: Jack Lousma

Other possible CMP canidates could be Deke Slayton or Paul Weitz. I don't think that Gibson would be a good choice for CMP because he was selected as a scientiest astronaut. It would have been better to use his medical skills in a different way, as they did on Skylab 2 (SL-2).

[This message has been edited by RichieB16 (edited April 16, 2003).]

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posted 04-16-2003 07:00 AM               

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The crews for Apollo 17, 18 and 19 are exactly as Richie states. Apollo 20 has been discussed many times in many different places, but the candidates are;

CDR - Stu Roosa, Edgar Mitchell
CMP - Paul Weitz
LMP - Jack Lousma, Don Lind

Since 20 would have been the last lunar landing, I believe Roosa would have been CDR. I know that Mike Cassutt tends to favour Mitchell instead. But either is possible. CMP was only ever going to be Weitz. PJ was an experienced guy having done support work on previous missions. LMP was a choice between Lind and Lousma, both LM guys. Lousma had the greater experience on support crews and had already done a lot of time in the LM simulator. In all probabilty Lousma would have been on 20. If there had been an Apollo 21, Lind would probably have been assigned here, since that would also make him Jack Schmitt's backup on 18, a good situation all round. Most likely crew IMHO:

CDR - Roosa/Mitchell
CMP - Weitz
LMP - Lousma

There is no certain way of saying who would have been on 20, just educated guess work.

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posted 04-17-2003 12:12 AM               

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I doubt that Mitchell would have gotten command, simply because he had already walked on the moon. If they were going to send an already moon walker, I would have picked Conrad (a little off topic). But, thats why I think that Roosa would have been choosen over Mitchell.

By the way, was their ever a landing picked for 20 or had they not planned that far ahead. Personally, I would have picked Tyco for the landing site.

[This message has been edited by RichieB16 (edited April 17, 2003).]

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posted 04-17-2003 04:18 AM               

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With regard to Mitchell/Conrad first. Conrad was never really in the frame for Apollo 20 in any realistic sense from what has been said. True, he would have been a good commander, but if he had stayed in the rotation, the road from Apollo 12 would have lead to Apollo 18. The truth was that Stafford told him you only get to command one lunar landing flight, and they needed Conrad in Skylab. Pete probably considered Skylab the greater challenge too.

Mitchell and Haise were the top guns in their group. If Apollo had been an open-ended program with further landings on the books, Mitchell would have been a good bet for Apollo 20. Myself, I back Roosa. Simply because if 20 is the last landing, its fairer to give someone their first shot, rather than another guy their second. Not that fairness played much of a part in astronaut crew selection ;-)

As to landing sites, the short answer is no, not really. There were lists drawn up in 1969, but Apollo 20 was cancelled so early, that if never got a new site following the Apollo 13 shake-up. Worth remembering that if Apollo 15 and Apollo 19 had flown, all the other missions would have had different landing sites as well. Tycho is often mentioned for Apollo 20 and would have been a good site in geological terms. But Jim McDivitt said that astronauts would go to Tycho "over my dead body" due to its difficult landing conditions. In real life Apollo 17 was conducted in a very conservative "safety first" manner. I don't see Apollo 20 being any different if it is the last flight.

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posted 04-17-2003 06:01 PM               

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Well, from what I've heard and read, Tom Stafford wasn't totally desperate to go to the moon. He'd gotten pretty close with Apollo 10 and had the option of remaining in the rotation and getting a lunar landing, but he turned it down. He wanted to move into management and start a different career thread. He took ASTP because it was something new and different and pretty high profile at the time. It was also the last chance to fly for a long time and suitable "final assignment" for Stafford.

With regards to Mitchell. Yes, its true that his ESP and alternate science theories were not viewed that well by the old heads like Deke Slayton and Tom Stafford. However, Mitchell was a crackjack LMP, only Fred Haise could match him for knowledge of the LMs systems from the '66 class. He was also very very bright and generally considered a good astronaut. Mike Cassutt has said that Deke always intended to recycle certain LMPs like Haise and Mitchell to later CDR slots if they were free. If Apollo 20 had been on the cards, Mitchell may well have let the ESP stuff slide until after the assignment. I only prefer Roosa because with Apollo 20 as the last flight, it makes more sense to give someone a first chance on the moon, than anyone else a second. But don't under-estimate just how good Mitchell was.

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posted 04-20-2003 04:14 AM               

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Haha, This reminds me of a thread that pops up on sci.space.history every now and again. I really don't think it will ever be agreed on who would have been on the Apollo crews after 17 ! (maybe 18 is easy)

But its fun guessing........

Adam

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