T O P I C R E V I E W |
heng44 | October 23, 1968, was a busy day around the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at Kennedy Space Center. In the morning the Apollo 8 crew boarded the transfer van, which delivered them to Launch Pad 39A for emergency egress training. Then around noon the Apollo 7 crew arrived back at the MSOB, after flying in from the USS Essex. And in the afternoon the Apollo 8 backup crew of Armstrong, Aldrin and Haise (seen in this photo) rode the transfer van to the pad for their emergency egress training. |
Tom | Wow, that's a rare shot... never seen it. Thanks, Ed! |
LM-12 | Notice that backup CMP Buzz Aldrin is wearing an A7L EVA suit. He was the backup LMP before Jim Lovell replaced Mike Collins on the prime crew. |
Philip | Of course no patches were worn during all test procedures. |
LM-12 | The prime crew had their mission patches at the CDDT walkout on December 11. |
LM-12 | quote: Originally posted by heng44: October 23, 1968, was a busy day around the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building
On the previous day, both crews had suited up for slide wire training at pad 39B. This related SpaceInHD film footage was taken during that busy period and includes:
- backup crew slide wire training
- prime crew slide wire training
- backup crew suiting up
- prime crew suiting up
- Apollo 7 crew arriving at the MSOB
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heng44 | Nice find! |
COR482932 | This is fantastic!! |
cmj1964 | I was there that morning in a line of cars at the traffic light on NASA Parkway north of the O&C building (I was headed to my launch site recovery team station on the Pad-B access road) when the Astronaut Transfer Van with the Apollo 8 crew made a left onto NASA Parkway in front of us to head out to Pad-A. I remember thinking about what they were about to experience. |
Tom | Great video...thanks for sharing!! |
Wehaveliftoff | Superb job whomever took it. |
LM-12 | The Picture of the Week mentions emergency egress training. There is also some shorter film footage taken in the White Room of both the Apollo 8 prime and backup crews undergoing emergency egress training. The prime crew enters the White Room wearing blue covers on their PGA helmets. |
Fra Mauro | I love the photos of backup crews! Funny how Buzz went from CMP to LMP. |
Kite | Buzz Aldrin was the original back up LMP but moved to CMP when Jim Lovell moved up to prime crew of Apollo 8 when Michael Collins had to have surgery on his back. Fred Haise was then drafted in to be back up LMP. After Apollo 8 flew, Collins recovered and was made CMP for prime Apollo 11, Aldrin went back to LMP and Haise became his back up on what was then Apollo 14, later switched to Apollo 13. |
Kite | Further to above I think the reason for Buzz switching to back up CMP was that NASA management wanted already flown astronauts on Apollo 10 and 11, in particular the CMP slot, so that should explain it. Once Collins was fit again to keep to the original idea of an experienced crew for the intended first moon landing, Buzz went back to being LMP as Haise had not yet flown. |
LM-12 | There is another spacesuit on the table where Haise is suiting up.
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LM-12 | Was Apollo 8 still an "E" mission when Haise joined the backup crew? The Mission E training schedule in 1968 goes to August 23 and Haise is included in the last week, from what I can see. |
Kite | According to Deke Slayton in his book "Deke" on pages 212-3, he had to make the change of Fred Haise joining the then Apollo 9 back up crew in July 1968 when it was still an E mission, although changes to the designation were being mooted from April of that year. |
LM-12 | Haise is referred to as "Mission E Replacement Crewman #6" on a list of his training accomplished from January 1, 1967 to August 17, 1968.
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LM-12 | Fred Haise refers to the E Mission in his JSC Oral History interview:
When I was assigned to Apollo 8, yes, it was a high-orbit rendezvous (I think 4,000 mile apogee) with a lunar module. And we — I don't remember how long we were in that training (probably a month) when the decision was made by NASA management to forget the lunar module (it wasn't going to be ready) and turned it into a lunar mission using only the command and service module. This incidentally was the toughest training cycle I went through of the four in Apollo as far as the time squeeze to get ready. |
heng44 | quote: Originally posted by LM-12: Haise is referred to as "Mission E Replacement Crewman #6" on a list of his training accomplished from January 1, 1967 to August 17, 1968.
Is that the Apollo 8 Training Summary you are referring to? Or do you have a training list for Haise alone? |
LM-12 | The Crew Training Summary on pdf page 44.
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LM-12 | The man seen filming in photo 68-H-1090 might be shooting the film footage linked upthread of backup LMP Fred Haise suiting-up in the MSOB. |