Posts: 1091
From:
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 02-28-2012 12:14 PM               

---

I just read Gene Cernan's "The Last Man on the Moon" and in it he mentions that Bill Anders simply wanted to walk on the moon and when he was in line to be made command module pilot (CMP) for Apollo 14 he didn't want it.

If Anders was the lunar module pilot (LMP) on Apollo 8 and clearly simply wanted to walk on the moon, why was he moved to CMP on the Apollo 11 backup crew and Fred Haise made LMP instead of him? Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to simply stay as LMP?

I would think his experience of flying on Apollo 8 would have given him at least some pull to be made LMP for Apollo 14 over Haise or am I missing something?

Posts: 1677
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

Posts: 1091
From:
Registered: Sep 2003

Posts: 3242
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002

Posts: 287
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 12-27-2021 08:37 AM               

---

I've just read Robert Kurson's "Rocketmen" (excellent) and I'm unsure why Bill Anders was not re-assigned to a crew training as an LMP rather than as CMP, thus backing up Apollo 11 and leaving him only the prospect of a repeat flight to the moon on a later Apollo. Why was that?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

Posts: 287
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2004

Posts: 311
From:
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 12-28-2021 06:20 AM            

---

Donn Eisele rotated to backup CMP on Apollo 10, so maybe?

Honestly on one hand Slayton claimed he always planned to move the, to AAP/Skylab, but if he somehow gained a different opinion I would guess then Eisele and Cunningham, would rotate as CMP and LMP respectively to a backup and then prime crew.

Slayton seemed inclined when possible to leave the group three LMPs in place since he considered assigning Schweickart to Apollo 15 as LMP and Cernan as LMP on 16. Although none of that happened, the intent is clear. If Cunningham impressed, why not leave him in that position?

Anders got caught by the numbers and the "flown CMP rule." His only chance may have been in Borman had been willing to stay on and the whole Apollo 8 crew would have flown Apollo 11 (an option Slayton considered).

Posts: 369
From: Studio City CA USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 12-29-2021 02:14 PM               

---

The "flown" CMP rule was being phased out in early 1969, shortly after Slayton assigned Anders as the Apollo 11 backup. Worden was assigned as Apollo 12 backup CMP in mid-March, and within the next month Mattingly began training "in parallel" with Anders for Apollo 11.

This was almost certainly due to the fact that as Apollo 7, 8 and 9 flew, Slayton had more confidence in rendezvous training — no longer feeling that an astronaut had to have had the in-flight experience. (Anders, in fact, had no in-flight rendezvous background, though he had trained in Gemini and, probably more importantly, had acquired lunar navigation experience, vital to the CMP job.)

Posts: 1677
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 12-30-2021 12:35 PM               

---

Interesting to note too that had Anders said yes to flying again, as CMP, he had to be also looking at the possibility of rotating into a third lunar mission down the road as commander.

As of early 1969, missions were manifested to Apollo 20. Using Deke's system of crew rotation, after flying as CMP on Apollo 14 (which Anders was in line for in early 1969 as backup CMP for Apollo 11, until Lovell's crew was moved up to Apollo 13 to accommodate Alan Shepard), he could've then rotated to backup commander of Apollo 17, then flown as commander of Apollo 20. Had he stayed on the crew for Apollo 13, he then could've been backup commander of Apollo 16 then commander of Apollo 19.

Three missions to the moon would've been a tall order, both in terms of continuous training, as well as personal risk. Maybe more than he was willing to take on for the sake of his family. Of course all of that would have become moot after the cancellations of Apollo 19 and 20, but Anders had no way of knowing that in early 1969.