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Author
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Topic: Rusty Schweickart
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mark plas
Member Posts: 385
From: the Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 09-14-2006 03:28 AM
   
I never Understood why Schweickart was taken of flight rotation was this only because of his spacesickness or was it cos the Apollo 9 crew broke up when McDivitt became Apollo director |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 09-14-2006 05:48 AM
Schweickart didn't quite get booted out of the rotation - he was the backup CDR for the first Skylab mission.I think he ended up like Cunningham did after his flight - moved to Apollo Applications (early name for Skylab) with the expectation of flying again on that program. Then Conrad interjected himself and Bean into Skylab after Apollo 12 forcing the others out of prime crew slots (see Cunningham's "All American Boys" for an account of this). [Edited by micropooz (September 14, 2006).] |
mark plas
Member Posts: 385
From: the Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 09-14-2006 06:13 AM
But there must have been other factors why would he train as LMP and not getting a lunar landing you know wouldn t it be in Nasa s interest to have a guy who already flew as LMP fly on a lunarlanding mission?Cunningham was a different story because of what happened on A7 Kraft already said that cunningham would never fly for him again. |
taneal1
Member Posts: 230
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 09-14-2006 10:04 AM
Schweickart himself states that due to his "space sickness" he volunteered to become a test subject to determine why he got sick and others didn't. This effectively removed him from the crew rotation. Once he missed the Apollo 12 LMP backup crew assignment, the only slot available to him was Skylab.It was not realized until the many Shuttle flights that about half of the crew was going to get sick regardless of medication, conditioning, etc. According to several astronauts there were other cases of sickness in Gemini and Apollo flights but astros didn't admit them. Also, I don't think there was confidence that he could handle a Skylab mission due to what is now called SAS. Schweickart says now they know that he would have adapted, but then there was doubt. With Schweickart and Cunningham available it has always surprised me that NASA chose to fly a rookie crew on the final Skylab mission. Of course Cunningham was looked upon unfavorably for other reasons, and they were both relegated to backup crews and were unlikely to ever fly again. Tom [Edited by taneal1 (September 14, 2006).] |
East-Frisian
Member Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 09-14-2006 11:46 AM
quote:
Cunningham was a different story because of what happened on A7 Kraft already said that cunningham would never fly for him again.[/B]
Sorry, for asking, but what happened on Apollo 7 with/due Cunningham, that he never should fly again? Never heard about something like that (but living in Germany). The Eastfrisian |
mark plas
Member Posts: 385
From: the Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 09-14-2006 11:58 AM
Well during the flight of Apollo 7 there was a lot of tension between the crew and mission control. The refused to take up tasks they were asked to do and they didn t follow orders to put on their helmets during reentry.
While Schirra made all those decisions Eis ely and Cunningham paid the price for it |
East-Frisian
Member Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 09-14-2006 01:00 PM
Thank you, that was new for me.The Eastfrisian |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1047
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 09-17-2006 01:27 PM
quote:
Then Conrad interjected himself and Bean into Skylab after Apollo 12 forcing the others out of prime crew slots (see Cunningham's "All American Boys" for an account of this).[Edited by micropooz (September 14, 2006).][/B]
Pete was very influential.If project Apollo was continued,i think that if Conrad wish it, could have had the seat of commander on Apollo 20 and a second trip on the moon. |
mark plas
Member Posts: 385
From: the Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 09-17-2006 02:27 PM
Tom,I also never understood why they selected an all rookie crew for the last Skylab mission
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Lunar_module_5
unregistered
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posted 09-18-2006 07:15 AM
Interesting article from the BIS Spaceflight magazine in 1979 (The Astronauts - Where are they now?by David Shayler) states that Rusty took a leave of absence from NASA but had returned by the time of the articles writing and was available for shuttle flights....hmmmm....I have often wondered whether Al Bean, Rusty, Joe Kerwin and Deke Slayton would have gotten an early flight on STS. If memory serves me correct there was a rumour that Bean was to get the CDR seat on STS-9/Spacelab 1. In Tim Furniss' book "The Space Shuttle" he states that Slayton was still avaiable for crew selection in 1979 (and the 1981 copy of that book also states this). I always thought Kerwin would have gotten a seat on Spacelab....as Garriot did. Food for thought! |
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