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Author
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Topic: Apollo 13: Swapping for the backup crew
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Yanksman2001
Member Posts: 24
From: Long Island City, NY, USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 11-02-2004 01:07 PM
   
Had it been Jim Lovell or Fred Haise who were grounded from Apollo 13 instead of Ken Mattingly, would it have been safer in that situation, so close to launch, to substitute both the backup commander and backup lunar module pilot instead of just the crewman being grounded? I would think that that final 15 minutes before landing, the commander and lunar module pilot had to count on each other, know what that person was doing without having to ask, know the tone in his voice; two people working as one, that they would not have had enough time training together. Lovell and Haise could easily been given their own later mission. Or do you think that since the backup crews didn't get as much training that the one crewman substitution would have been safer? My initial belief is to switch both the commander and lunar module pilot. Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3446
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-02-2004 03:19 PM
I recall off the top of my head that the backup crews received just as much training, if not more, than the primary crew, according to Haise's lecture last year. It's just that the primary crew had first dibs on the simulators.Reason: the prime crew were often off visiting manufacturers and checking out hardware. When they were out of the area, the backup crew used the sims. Jack Swigert was fully qualified to fly Apollo 13, Haise said, unlike the movie made him out to be. The only thing they had a concern with was being able to "read" each other, and obviously Swigert passed that on short notice. So I think that if Haise or Lovell were switched instead, the results would have been the same. |
Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 11-02-2004 04:53 PM
I recall reading somewhere that if it was the commander or lunar module pilot that was "grounded" for a medical reason that close to launch (I believe it was 72 hours, for Apollo 13) the mission would have been delayed for a month, which would have been the next available window.Substituting the command module pilot that late in the game, was not that critical to the success of the mission. Russia (and the old Soviet Union) had incidences where the entire back-up crew replaced the prime crew, when a crew member was grounded. | |
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