Author Topic: Why Richard Gordon was not selected in the 2nd astronaut group  (Read 2510 times)

Offline DJS

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Does anybody know why Richard Gordon was not selected in the 2nd astronaut group?  He was a more experienced test pilot than several members of the next nine.

Offline Michael Cassutt

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Does anybody know why Richard Gordon was not selected in the 2nd astronaut group?  He was a more experienced test pilot than several members of the next nine.

Well, there probably were several people who might have answered this question -- notably Deke Slayton and the members of the 1962 selection board.  Some of them, and possibly all of them, are no longer with us... and any who are still living likely won't go into their deliberations.

Deke did tell me that he held Michael Collins out of the 1962 group because he thought he needed a bit more experience.  We never discussed Gordon.

That said, it could have been for several reasons.  NASA always tried to get a balance of services in its Mercury/Gemini/Apollo selections, not for political purposes, but because Navy and Air Force pilots had different career paths and experience, and were exposed to different aircraft, contractors, technical areas....  so Gordon might have ranked higher than, say Ed White... but the board felt it wanted another Air Force-trained astronaut in this group at this time.

There could have been minor or temporary physical reasons, too.

It might also have been due to Gordon's 1962 test work . . . if the Navy needed him for a tricky bit of testing, for example, someone might have suggested to NASA that holding him back a year would be helpful.  (Even in 1962 it was obvious that more astronauts were going to be selected in a year or two.)

Michael Cassutt

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