Posts: 1693
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

Posts: 953
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-02-2020 01:59 PM               

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Not in the Chicago media. The half page article appearing in the Aug. 12, 1971 issue of the Chicago Today evening newspaper focuses heavily on Schmitt as the first astro-scientist to be chosen for a lunar mission and on Cernan, a Chicago native. Engle is mentioned once,in the context that he served with Cernan and Evans as the back-up crew for Apollo 14 and that crew might be assigned to fly on Apollo 17.

Engle is also mentioned only once in the Aug. 23, 1971 Aviation Week & Space Technology article about the Apollo 17 crew.

I guess after the high drama of replacing Ken Mattingly with Jack Swigert a few days before the Apollo 13 launch; the Schmitt/Engle change, almost 16 months before launch, was considered not to be newsworthy.

Posts: 1587
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 11-02-2020 07:11 PM               

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I think if Engle had actually been assigned to Apollo 17 and THEN replaced by Schmitt, it would have been a bigger news story.

The fact is that Engle never was. It was implied by Deke Slayton's crew rotation system, which only space geeks like us are aware of or pay much attention to.

Posts: 44940
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-02-2020 07:47 PM               

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Another factor to consider: Scientists had been raising objections to the lack of a geologist (or other type of scientist) on a moon landing crew since just after Apollo 11. In December 1969, The New York Times reported that "reliable sources said that Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt would be named to the back-up crew for Apollo 15 with the idea that he would go the moon on Apollo 16 or Apollo 17."

So Schmitt's assignment may have been seen as the expected outcome. Had Engle been assigned instead, then that may have drawn more scrutiny from the press.

Posts: 3224
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 11-02-2020 08:17 PM            

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Following on from Robert's comment, it is helpful to consider the announcement of the Apollo 15 prime and back-up crews. A NASA press release of 26th March, 1970, referred to the back-up crew of Dick Gordon, Vance Brand and Jack Schmitt as "...eligible for selection as prime crewmen for any mission subsequent to Apollo 16."

In relation to Schmitt, the press release specifically stated: "It is likely that he will be a prime crewman on Apollo 17 or 18."

And of course, by September, 1970, there was no Apollo 18.