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Author
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Topic: Shepard and Borman Gemini crew
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Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-26-2019 01:05 PM
   
I recently found, in a book dated 1964, a picture of Alan Shepard and Frank Borman apparently training together in a Gemini cockpit simulator. After reading "Deke!" I had always believed that Shepard was paired with Tom Stafford as the first crew to fly a Gemini. This is, of course before Shepard was grounded with his inner ear issue.Does anyone have any info about a Shepard/Borman Gemini crew assignment? |
star51L
Member Posts: 354
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-26-2019 05:09 PM
Had read about the first (or early Gemini crew) of Grissom/Borman, but don't recall ever reading anything about Shepard's crew mate other than Tom Stafford as you noted. May have just been a training assignment as opposed to an actual crew assignment. |
heng44
Member Posts: 3413
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 02-27-2019 01:19 PM
It wasn't really training. During the first week of April 1964, Shepard and Borman gave reporters a look at the Gemini simulator at Cape Kennedy. Photos from this PAO event can be seen in the Space News Roundup dated April 15, 1964. Apparently there was one in your book also.In early 1964 Shepard was unofficially named prime crew commander and Borman backup crew pilot for the first manned Gemini mission. However, in March 1964 Shepard was removed from flight status due to his ear problem. Borman was subsequently reassigned to the Gemini 4 backup crew.  |
Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-28-2019 08:25 AM
Yep! Ed's picture is exactly the same one I saw in the little Moonport U.S.A. booklet. The Shepard/Borman connection surprised me as I recall reading somewhere that those two did not get along well and I was surprised that Deke Slayton might have paired them together as a Gemini crew. I guess that explains it. |
Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 03-01-2019 06:41 PM
I read that the Grissom/Borman crew didn't hit it off either. Wasn't too long before Young took Borman's place and Borman moved on to command the back-up crew of Gemini 4. |
Joe Allegretti
New Member Posts: 7
From: Albany, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 03-03-2019 08:58 AM
The more I think about this, the more confused I get! When Shepard was removed, why wasn't Grissom just moved up from the backup crew to fly with Stafford? Or, why not move the entire Grissom-Borman crew up? Why did it end up Grissom and Young? |
star51L
Member Posts: 354
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-03-2019 09:38 AM
Source: The Misfortune of Al Shepard: 50 Years Since Gemini 3 In "Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut," biographer Ray Boomhower cited fellow astronaut Gene Cernan as remarking that Grissom's and Borman's strong-headed egos were too large to fit one mission. Indeed, in an April 1999 oral history for NASA, Borman hinted that he "went over to [Grissom's] house to talk to him about it ... and after that I was scrubbed from the flight."Unluckily for Stafford, however, Slayton felt that John Young was a better personality match with Grissom and named him as Gemini 3's new pilot. He had nothing against Stafford, but revealed in his autobiography that "Tom was probably our strongest guy in rendezvous, so it made sense to point him at [Gemini VI], the first rendezvous mission." |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1527
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 03-03-2019 09:47 AM
My sense it was compatibility. Apparently Grissom and Borman just didn't hit it off together. Borman alludes to that in his autobiography. He was invited to Gus' home, thought it went well, but the next thing he knew he was assigned to back up McDivitt on Gemini 4 (a spot originally assigned to Pete Conrad). I presume Gus told Deke he'd rather train and fly with someone else. I've never seen evidence that he specifically asked for John Young. |
Joe Allegretti
New Member Posts: 7
From: Albany, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 03-03-2019 09:47 AM
Thanks. Sounds like a book I need to get. |
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