Posts: 1776
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 04-27-2025 02:47 PM               

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Of all the crews assigned during the Apollo program, the one that confuses me is the Apollo 10 back-up crew: Gordon Cooper, Donn Eisele and Edgar Mitchell.

It was said that Cooper was assigned as commander and based on his performance would or would not be assigned an Apollo moon landing. Evidently he didn't meet NASA expectations.

However, command module pilots that are in flight rotation are usually assigned as a back-up commander shortly after their first mission. Was there a reason why Eisele after flying as command module pilot on Apollo 7 was given the same role on the Apollo 10 back-up crew?

Posts: 1775
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 04-28-2025 05:29 PM               

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He fell out of favor with management.

My best guess is that it was a combination of his personal life having become a distraction and his perceived motivation on the job. Plus the entire Apollo 7 crew was blacklisted by Chris Kraft as a result of some of their behavior.

Eisele it seems just wasn't considered Apollo command material. The only reason he was assigned as backup command module pilot on Apollo 10 is that Deke Slayton had a rule, on the early Apollo flights involving a lunar module and the command module pilot flying solo in the command module, that the command module pilot must have spaceflight experience. Deke just didn't have many choices at that time.