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Author
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Topic: Apollo 10 commander
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Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 678
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 08-02-2005 12:51 PM
  
Hi all,
Sorry if this has been covered before but why was John Young not the commander of apollo 10?
Didn't he and Tom Stafford both have 2 successfull Gemini flights under their belts - and Young flew his first.
Weren't they both selected in the second group?
Did it have to do with their respective military ranks at the time (which I do not know)?I don't have anything against Tom Stafford - he was a magnificent astronaut. I just thought that Young would have been 'senior' from NASA's standpoint. One more question - Did Young become Chief astronaut right after Stafford or was there someone in between? Thanks,
Paul |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 08-02-2005 01:02 PM
I'm sure someone has the answer out there...and if they don't, it might be just one of those myseteries of how Deke Slayton made his crew selections.For Apollo 10, I tend to see that as really a mission with two guys playing two very big roles (not to diminish the important role Cernan also played). Stafford was the overall Commander, but Young had a demanding role of being the first solo Command Module pilot in lunar orbit...no small task considering he might have been called upon to change his orbit to rescue the LM if they couldn't make their way back up to meet him. This was the first time lunar orbit rendezvous was attempted. So it's no surprise that Deke picked three veterans for this flight (all three had two flights each under their belt). I might be wrong, but Stafford also had more accumulated time in space by Apollo 10 than Young did (since Young's flight on GT-3 was relatively short). Maybe someone has a better answer than I do... |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 08-02-2005 01:03 PM
Oops, scratch that one remark from my last message...Cernan only had one flight prior to Apollo 10 (on GT-9). |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1369
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
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posted 08-02-2005 01:33 PM
Many of the crew decisions come down to seniority - seniority of selection as an astronaut first, seniority of command assignment and then seniority of flight assignment last.This rule doesn't always hold true but it seems to have been the yardstick from which Deke only occasionally deviated. In the case of Stafford & Young - although Young flew Gemini 3 before Stafford flew on Gemini 6 it was only as Pilot not Commander.
After the loss of See and Basset Stafford flew as Commander on Gemini 9 giving him 'command seniority' over Young whose first command was Gemini 10. It's not written in stone but I've generally found that applying the selection/command/flight seniority rule explains most command assignments within a particular crew. Cheers,
Matt ------------------
www.spaceracemuseum.com [This message has been edited by Matt T (edited August 02, 2005).] |
RichieB16
Member Posts: 582
From: Oregon
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 08-02-2005 08:32 PM
In another way, Stafford may have had seniority as well. He had originally trained as the pilot of Gemini-3 (with Alan Shepard as CDR). When Shepard got grounded, that crew was replaced with Grissom and Young. So, the fact that Stafford har originally been picked for an eariler space flight than Young may have played a part as well. |
Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 08-06-2005 02:39 PM
I guess the same can be asked of a couple of CDR selections made for recent shuttle flights.
For example...why is it that Rick Husband and Mark Polansky were selected as CDR's after flying only one flught as PLT, while a large majority of CDR's flew as PLT at least twice? |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2615
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 08-07-2005 05:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Tom:
I guess the same can be asked of a couple of CDR selections made for recent shuttle flights.
For example...why is it that Rick Husband and Mark Polansky were selected as CDR's after flying only one flught as PLT, while a large majority of CDR's flew as PLT at least twice?
Shortage of suitable candidates with two flights on their log? A lot of veteran shuttle commanders left the agency and retired. ------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies |
Mark Zimmer
Member Posts: 289
From:
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 09-02-2005 03:58 PM
The business about changing the orbit of the CM to try to rescue an LM in trouble was one of the most surprising things about the Apollo 10 DVDs. How the heck would that have worked? Wouldn't it end up grossly jeopardizing all three men? But I suppose the CM pilot would rather go down with them than come back without them. |
HappyProudThrilled
New Member Posts:
From:
Registered:
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posted 09-02-2005 05:09 PM
I think Matt' explanation nailed it perfectly. However, I think I heard somewhere that for the Apollo 10 mission, they wanted a CDR and LMP who had already flown together and had a long established wroking/ training relationship since flying the LM in lunar orbit was untested, hence higher risk, etc. Thus Stafford & Cernan make good sense. If that's true, then that could have been yet another reason why Stafford was CDR over Young. The question that pops to my mind regarding this particular crew (especially since we're talking about senoirity) is why after being LMP on Apollo 10 Deke asked Cernan to be LMP to Young's CDR for the Apollo 13 back-up crew/ 16 prime crew? I don't think I would have had the guts to pass up an LMP assignment and hold out for CDR! However, the choice served Cernan well...
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Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 09-02-2005 05:52 PM
I believe that as a rule (tradition ?) the CDR always lead the crew out to the pad on launch day.
For Apollo 10, Young lead Stafford and Cernan...see photo http://www.apolloarchive.com/apidx_apollo_10.html
(ap10-KSC-69PC-193) |
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