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Author Topic:   NASA 1966 Astronaut Group
parg1
Member

Posts: 16
From: Wales
Registered: Dec 2007

posted 06-14-2010 03:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for parg1   Click Here to Email parg1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Over the past few years dedicated researchers on this site and elsewhere have been able to piece together details of the shortlisted candidates for the NASA astronaut selections from 1959 to 1967, with the exception of the 1966 Apollo Astronaut Selection (NASA Group 5). While it is clear that the majority of candidates for this group would be graduates of the USAF and USN Test Pilot Schools, few details exist as to who were interviewed.

Of 351 applications received by NASA only 159 met the basic criteria (100 military and 59 civilian); it is however unclear how many of these applicants proceeded to medical examination; some sources stating that all 159 were medically examined, others as few as 30 (which would be in line with the 1959, 1962 and 1963 selections).

Thus far I have only been able to provisionally name two of the candidates meeting the minimum requirements - Lt Cdr James F Peterson USN and Lt Cdr David Whittier Morrill USMC (who made the final 30 candidate group).

I would appreciate any information that others on this forum can provide on other shortlisted candidates.

Delta7
Member

Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 06-14-2010 03:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Delta7   Click Here to Email Delta7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Gene Cernan, in his book The Last Man On The Moon, mentions a Navy pilot buddy of his named "Skip" Furlong who applied and for whom he "campaigned" for during the 1966 selection (along with Ron Evans, who was selected). Cernan seems to imply he made it up to the final cut.

Dave Shayler
Member

Posts: 127
From: Halesowen, West Mids, UK
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-20-2010 07:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dave Shayler   Click Here to Email Dave Shayler     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
During the research for Jerry Carr's biogography 'Around the World in 84 Days' (Apogee Books 2008) I asked Jerry about any fellow applicants. The process was a bit of a blur to him though he did mention spending the evenings sitting in the Visiting Officers Quarters (VOQ) at Brooks AFB, with PJ Weitz and a Stan Lewis wondering what would be coming next in the programme of examinations and tests.

I also found in Jerry's papers his recommendation by the USMC to the Chief of Staff of the USAF for nomination to the group being considered for selection in the second USAF MOL Astronaut intake. He was nominated with fellow USMC officers Captain Stanley P. Lewis, Jack Lousma and Bob Overmyer. Overmyer was selected for MOL Group 2. Lousma of course joined Jerry in the selection process for NASA Group 5. Stanley Lewis was also nominated by the USMC for NASA as well as MOL.

I do know that when Slayton was asked by the selection panel how many candidates he wanted he replied "as many qualified guys as you can find" from the 35 finalists.

During my research for the Gemini book (Springer 2001) I came across an obscure document from the USAF at Brooks 'billing' NASA for the Medical Tests held for the 1962 and 1963 selections. These lists were published in the BIS Spaceflight Magazine in March 2001. Some of those who were later selected by NASA in 1966 were on those lists for 1962 (Swigert) and 1963 (Brand, Evans, Irwin, Swigert again). When I showed Jerry these lists he did not recall any of the other names though I assume some of those were nominated for 1966 though it is not yet clear (at least to me) if any progressed to the final 35.

When researching the Skylab book (Springer 2001) and Jerry's biog I returned to the F. Curtis Michel papers held at Rice University and buried in those were the names of the 1965 and 1967 Scientist Astronaut candidates. It does seem strange, therefore, that the final list of 35 candidates revealing the missing names of 16 individuals who did not make it, have yet to be identified, when we have all the shortlisted names from 1959 through the more recent Shuttle era selections.

I for one would welcome more information on the 'missing' 16 from the Class of '66 finalists.

moorouge
Member

Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 06-20-2010 11:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Don't know if this furthers the search, but I found this on Encyclopedia Astronautica:
351 applications (including six women and a legless US Navy pilot). All 19, except X-15 astronaut Engle, would fly into space on Apollo or Skylab missions. Engle and six others would fly shuttle missions.
I'm intrigued by the US latter day Douglas Bader!

Dave Shayler
Member

Posts: 127
From: Halesowen, West Mids, UK
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-20-2010 12:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dave Shayler   Click Here to Email Dave Shayler     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The USN amputee was Lt. Frank E. Ellis who had lost both legs in a 1962 crash. He maintained that his handicap had no bearing on his flying skills and that being able to run and jump was irrelevant for an astronaut in zero-g [though emergency egress of the spacecraft on the launch pad using the slide basket or tower chute available to Apollo crews would have posed a safety issue]. Ellis was not a finalist but was assigned to complete 'special work' for NASA. None of the six female applicants were to make it to the final 35. Their names are also not known as far as I am aware.

parg1
Member

Posts: 16
From: Wales
Registered: Dec 2007

posted 06-21-2010 05:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for parg1   Click Here to Email parg1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for the additional information and names David; this has opened up another avenue for research - the MOL project and who were the candidates submitted for the three selected groups and for the fourth potential group. I will admit that your works on Gemini, NASA's Scientist Astronauts and Around the World in 84 Days are sources of reference that I constantly revisit when referencing astronaut selections.

The first MOL selection was made on 12 November 1965, which means that preliminary selection commenced before NASA's announcement for Group 5 on 12 September 1965; which presumably meant that candidates for MOL 1 could have also applied for NASA 5. However those selected for MOL 1 would I assume not proceed with their NASA applications once selected.

In your response above David you do not give a date for Jerry Carr's recommendation by the USMC for MOL 2, if this is available it would be useful to help date the MOL 2 application process compared to that of NASA 5.

One interesting note on the MOL selections is that all those selected for the three completed selections were officers who had graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School and ARPS to the exclusion of the USN Test Pilot School:

MOL 1
Albert Crews
Lachlan Macleay
Francis Neubeck
Michael Adams
Richard Lawyer
James Taylor
John Finlay
Richard Truly
  Class 60A
Class 60A
Class 60C
Class 62C
Class 63A
Class 63A
Class 64A
Class 64A
  ARPS II
ARPS IV
ARPS III
ARPS IV
MOL 2
Gordon Fullerton
Henry Hartsfield
Robert Crippen
Karol Bobko
Robert Overmyer
  Class 64B
Class 64C
Class 65A
Class 65B
Class 65C
 
MOL 3
James Adrahamson
Robert Herres
Robert Lawrence
Donald Peterson
  Class 66B
Class 66B
Class 66B
Class 66B
 

I would suggest that candidates for the fourth MOL selection would be drawn from the 1967-1968 USAF Test Pilot School graduates. Unfortunately my selection information for the USAF Test Pilot School ends with Class 61A, I only have partial lists for later classes; any information on classes from 61B to 68A would assist in determining MOL candidates and potential NASA 5 Candidates.

I cannot find Stanley P Lewis as a USN Test Pilot School graduate, and must assume that like Overmyer he was a graduate from Edwards; which would have made him as strong candidate for MOL.

Thus far we have the names of potentially three of the missing 16 NASA Group 5 shortlisted candidates:

  • George Furlong
  • Stanley P Lewis
  • David W Morrill

Michael Cassutt
Member

Posts: 358
From: Studio City CA USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-22-2010 11:02 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Michael Cassutt   Click Here to Email Michael Cassutt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Re the MOL astronauts, Group I was actually selected (in secret) in November 1964, announced a year later following the formal approval of the MOL program. None of these men were eligible for or involved in the NASA/MOL selections that commenced in September 1965. There was no recruitment per se for Group I: ARPS commandant Chuck Yeager and his deputy, Robert Buchanan, were simply asked by Systems Command to nominate candidates from the existing pool of ARPS graduates at that time... around 20 were sent to Brooks for medical tests in October 1964, and a Systems Command board finalized the group a month later.

The Group II and III MOL pilots emerged from the same process that commenced September 1965. USAF astronaut candidates could apply for NASA, for MOL, or both. The successful Group II selectees were those who had already graduated from ARPS; the Group III men were those who had not, and who were sent to ARPS after selection.

Michael Cassutt

Michael Cassutt
Member

Posts: 358
From: Studio City CA USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-22-2010 08:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Michael Cassutt   Click Here to Email Michael Cassutt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And while I'm at it... no MOL IV. In late 1965, MOL managers were looking at an astronaut office of 18 max... and that was with five funded missions, scheduled to be launched beginning in 1968. By 1969, of course, the missions were still three years away... and had been reduced to four.

Some astronauts (Adams, Finley) had left by the time the program was canceled (June 1969), and most of the first group would have departed soon after (career reasons). But while there was some discussion, circa spring 1969, of a possible new selection (to replace the expected departures) it never went anywhere.

Michael Cassutt

carmelo
Member

Posts: 1047
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 06-23-2010 09:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for carmelo   Click Here to Email carmelo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have fear that the 1966 group was too much large.

Dave Shayler
Member

Posts: 127
From: Halesowen, West Mids, UK
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-24-2010 11:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dave Shayler   Click Here to Email Dave Shayler     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It probably was, though at the time no one was sure how the Apollo flights would turn out and exactly how many flights it would take to reach the moon.

It was also in the planning to have far more Apollo Application flights, and introduce three crews (Prime, Back-up and Support). Along with natural attrition, technical assignments, public duties, leave and illness there were clearly not enough astronauts in the first three groups to cover all the 'planned' missions. Of course we now know that there was also a lack of real funding and actual hardware being built to support what was hoped for.

The Apollo 1 pad fire, Apollo 13 abort and the relative ease that Apollo 7 through 12 made it all appear to the public (and Congress) did not help. Added to the obvious social problems and Vietnam the opportunity for more Apollo and Skylab missions simply faded away.

Had it turned out the other way who knows... perhaps NASA would have needed far more astronauts in the early 1970s, having already flown those from 1965, 1966 and 1967... but we could surmise what ifs? forever...

It is interesting to note the 1966 group supported NASA manned spaceflight operations from the end of Gemini to almost the start of Shuttle Mir, so they certainly did their bit for the American space effort.

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