posted 01-31-2012 04:36 PM               

It is claimed that six astronauts following the suspension of flights immediately after the Apollo 1 fire wanted to do a tour of duty in Vietnam. Has anyone heard of this and who were the six astronauts?

A group of about a half dozen decided to float the idea of taking a combat tour. It seems a somewhat half-baked idea in hindsight, but at the outset of the manned space program a stint as an astronaut was thought of as a temporary duty assignment, with the astronauts returning to formal military service after three years. Of course, astronaut training turned out to be very exhaustive and it wouldn't have been practical to cycle people around at such a rate, and in fact a tradition was established early in the Gemini program that an astronaut got a promotion after his first flight, to ensure that the astronaut corps wasn't a career sidetrack.

Deke Slayton was understanding over the proposal, though he said he wouldn't guarantee them a job when their combat tour was over. However, Lyndon Johnson and his people were bureaucratically micromanaging the air war and the pilots flying combat missions were increasingly wondering exactly what they were accomplishing. One astronaut was told: "You don't want to be here. It's a bad idea." Then the armed services blasted the idea completely out of the sky: if the astronauts came back to operational service, there was no way they would be sent on combat missions, since if they were shot down and taken prisoner, the North Vietnamese would play up the capture of an astronaut for all it was worth.

posted 01-31-2012 04:51 PM               

Private talks around the Astronaut Office, bull sessions over drinks after work and long discussions during weekend barbeques hatched an idea. Why wait in Houston doing nothing? If Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, Al Bean, myself and or any other astronaut was sharp enough to fly spaceships for NASA, we could certainly polish up our carrier landing qualifications and get into that Vietnam scrape, where our military skills could be used during the lull in the space race. Even before we took the idea to Deke, we knew he wouldn't like it, but we had to try, if for no other reason than to ease our consciences.

Deke probably thought our plan was about as dumb as anything he had ever heard, but sticking to his iron rule, he said the door was open anytime we wanted to leave, quite a courageous act on his part when faced with possibly losing a half dozen or more veteran astronauts. But, he added, did we really understand what was involved? "You can go, but I won't guarantee a job when you come back," he said.

The Pentagon hammered in the final nail. We could return to active duty if we wanted to, and even fly, but never — ever — would we be allowed into combat. Imagine the propaganda if the enemy captured an astronaut! Our scheme squelched. Vietnam would not our war.

posted 02-01-2012 05:20 AM               

I almost forgot about the section in Geno's book. It doesn't surprise me at all that it was the Navy guys who wanted to serve in Nam considering most of their buddies were serving on the line, launching from the decks of carriers for missions. I'm sure the Air Force and Marine pilots were similar, but the Navy pilots at NASA from classes 2 and 3 seemed to be a rather tight knit bunch (with Conrad, Gordon and Bean being almost the three amigos). I can remember Gene's line from "In the Shadow of the Moon" where he regrets he didn't get to fly combat in Nam, because whether it was for the right reason or the wrong reason as to why the war was being fought, Vietnam was his war.

posted 02-01-2012 02:45 PM               

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Originally posted by Skylon:
Ron Evans was the only Apollo-era astronaut to serve in Vietnam.

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posted 02-01-2012 07:56 PM            

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Originally posted by Delta7:
I believe Paul Weitz also served in Vietnam, but I could be wrong.

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