GirlygirlShuttlefan - 17/2/2006 7:59 PMWho was the astronaut that missed out on the Apollo 13 mission and ended up being a hero by finding a way to get them back with the lack of power via the mock up on Earth? He was the one that slept in and took his phone off the hook because he was so down about it.
Tony T. Harris - 18/2/2006 2:03 AMKen Mattingly. And that was made up by Hollywood for the film. He was not sulking at home with the phone off the hook. Apollo 13 the film was very sweethearted up.
dvandorn - 19/2/2006 12:05 PM He was indeed offered the backup CDR job on what was then Apollo 13, when Shepard took over as the prime CDR of that crew, but was told he probably wouldn't be allowed to rotate to the prime CDR of Apollo 16, so he told Slayton and Shepard to shove it.-Doug
Ben E - 20/2/2006 7:23 AMThanks, Doug. I think both Cunningham and Schweickart also did a lot of work towards Skylab, but never flew it. Why?
Ben E - 20/2/2006 10:30 AMWithout questioning the competence of the Skylab-4 crew, it seems unusual that three rookies should fly when, in my mind, Cunningham or Schweickart were far more qualified candidates to command. Perhaps it's down to office politics. In Andy Chaikin's book, I think Cunningham and Schweickart were regarded, like Anders and Bean, as test engineers - 'scientists' even - rather than potential CDR material. Yet Bean flew as CDR on Skylab-3.A real minefield.