Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 07-24-2015 09:06 AM               

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Scientist-astronaut Philip Chapman is inside the Lunar Module Mission Simulator in Building 5 at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston during familiarization training in March 1968. Chapman was selected as a member of Group 6 (August 1967) and served as the Apollo 14 Mission Scientist. He resigned from NASA in July 1972, largely because he strongly disagreed with the decision to build the Space Shuttle.

Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-24-2015 10:40 AM               

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He certainly had an interesting and wide-ranging career after leaving NASA. Seeing that he favored commercial use and access of space (and even mining the moon for resources), was the objection to shuttle that led to his resignation rooted in the fact that the space shuttle was more of a 'truck' in LEO with no place to go, and that NASA should have stuck to exploration that opened up new scientific and - yes - commercial discoveries?

Of course, the irony is that of the group of 'XS-11' astronauts that remained, almost all later flew in Shuttle/Spacelab flights. Maybe he felt that he would have a long wait for his chance, and conducting research and advocating for space was more important than an 'E-ticket' ride.

Posts: 231
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2009

posted 08-02-2015 06:19 AM               

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Born in Melbourne, Australia! Chapman's career is chronicled in the book "NASA's Scientist-Astronauts" by David Shayler and Colin Burgess.

He has had some interesting things to say about space, this from his blog in 2010.

Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002