I wouldn't put a lot of weight on that particular story. Young was always the first choice for A13 backup commander (as of May 1969). It's one of many claims in LEAP OF FAITH that lacks supporting evidence. Read the rest of the book, if you haven't, and you'll see what I mean.Michael Cassutt
Someone else also suggested that Slayton may have wanted to use Cooper as a seat warmer for himself, hoping to get back on flight status in time to be assigned to Apollo 16. Food for thought.
Quote from: Leardawg on 01/20/2011 03:11 pmSomeone else also suggested that Slayton may have wanted to use Cooper as a seat warmer for himself, hoping to get back on flight status in time to be assigned to Apollo 16. Food for thought.No, no, and no. Didn't happen here, and didn't happen on AS-205. Michael Cassutt, co-author of DEKE! and WE HAVE CAPTURE
Quote from: Michael Cassutt on 01/20/2011 10:31 pmQuote from: Leardawg on 01/20/2011 03:11 pmSomeone else also suggested that Slayton may have wanted to use Cooper as a seat warmer for himself, hoping to get back on flight status in time to be assigned to Apollo 16. Food for thought.No, no, and no. Didn't happen here, and didn't happen on AS-205. Michael Cassutt, co-author of DEKE! and WE HAVE CAPTUREI misspoke about Deke and a lunar flight. But didnt Deke confide in ( Cunningham ? ) that he hoped to maybe get the 2nd Apollo earth orbital flight ? ( this was before the fire, of course, the plans that is. )
Going back to the point about Slayton offering to make Mattingly LMP on Apollo 18...I've always struggled to understand Slayton's thinking here.Such an offer must have been made after Mattingly's involvement with Apollo 13, and presumably sometime before September 1970, when Apollo 18 was still on the manifest. By this time, Gordon, Brand and Schmitt were already training as the Apollo 15 backup crew and would have anticipated being cycled into the Apollo 18 prime slot. Suppose Mattingly had taken Slayton's offer of the Apollo 18 LMP post. How would Slayton have squared this in terms of crew rotation? More to the point, how would he have squared it with the scientific community, who had been breathing down his neck since at least 1969 to fly a geologist? Would he have simply turned the other cheek, stuck two fingers up at the scientists and bumped Schmitt in favour of Mattingly? If so, this scenario seems hard to believe when one considers the fierce rhetoric that was going on between NASA Headquarters and the National Academy of Sciences at the time.
Many thanks, Michael. It also prompts a second question. Why would Slayton consider reassigning Mattingly, who was a CSM expert and had served more than a year in backup and prime CMP capacities, to the LM?Several other members of the Original 19 (Lousma? Carr?) had already been in dedicated LM training for some time, so surely they would have had the edge over Mattingly on LM systems knowledge?It seems to me to be more likely that, if it happened at all, it was a case of Slayton trying to soften the blow of Mattingly losing Apollo 13.