posted May 01, 2002 05:34 AM               

"His next project, again teaming him with Hanks, will be a documentary on the lives of the 12 astronauts who have walked on  the moon."

posted May 02, 2002 08:57 AM               

For those of you interested and in command of the Dutch language:

There's a wonderful Dutch written book about the 12 moon walkers, by Jacques Ros. Photographs by Hendrik Jan van Brandwijk. First print 1989. They went to the US to get interviews with EVERY moonwalker. Armstrong was the toughest to get an interview with, as you all may guess.

The book is:

In de ban van de Maan

Jacques Ros/Hendrik Jan van Brandwijk

ISBN: 90-274-2292-3

Good luck and happy reading !!!

Kirsten

posted August 14, 2002 12:36 PM            

1. Extend the miniseries to go into Skylab, the development of the space shuttle, the Viking lander, etc., or:

posted August 14, 2002 01:40 PM               

Apollo 18
Richard Gordon, Commander
Vance Brand, Command Module Pilot
Harrison Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot (though after Schmitt flew on 17, this slot would probably have gone to Joe Engle who was originally selected as the LMP on 17).

Apollo 19
Fred Haise, Commander
William Pogue, Command Module Pilot
Gerald Carr, Lunar Module Pilot

Apollo 20
Charles Conrad, Commander
Paul Weitz, Command Module Pilot
Jack Lousma, Lunar Module Pilot

Roll camera! I want to see this "mini" mini-series!

posted August 14, 2002 02:14 PM               

And just for fun, doing a flash-forward of Alexei Leonov setting stepping off the Russian LM and onto the moon.

posted August 14, 2002 05:29 PM               

I very briefly raised this subject with Richard Gordon on one of his visits to the UK and he said that although it was not impossible he did not remember Pete talk about it as a possibility.

Although I have no arguments with the crews for 18 & 19, these are based on sound information, I have a lot of doubts about the Apollo 20 crew. Another astronaut, Don Lind, thinks he was close to selection as a LMP. This must be Apollo 20. In his book Deke Slayton said that he transferred Lind to Skylab because with the cancellation of Apollo 20 "I could see I just wasn't going to have a flight for him". Lind is the only astronaut linked to Apollo 20 in the book. I am aware that Lousma has said he thought he was in line for the LMP position although I have not personally spoken to him about it.

Unfortunately there is probably no definitive answer to who would have crewed Apollo 20. But it does make for a good discussion point.

Best wishes

posted August 14, 2002 05:52 PM               

From The Last Frontier..........

Mike

posted August 14, 2002 06:32 PM               

1. Roosa is linked to the mission in Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon book. I did study this as a possibility about a year ago and decided there was a pattern to Roosa but I cannot quite remember what it was. I will have to find my notes again.

2. Lousma could have been CMP instead of LMP. He was well trained on both. He acted as a support astronaut to CMP and LMP positions on Apollo 13.

In response to rjurek.

If the later Apollo's had flown there would have been no need to rotate Engle to Apollo 20 because he would have flown on Apollo 17. Schmitt would have remained on the Apollo 18 crew as originally planned. Engle was only bumped from Apollo 17 because Apollo 18 had been cancelled and the powers that be decided NASA's geologist astronaut had to walk on the Moon.

Best wishes

Rob Wood

[This message has been edited by Robonaut (edited August 14, 2002).]

posted August 15, 2002 02:53 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by WAWalsh:
A few other possibilities exist. If the budget cuts never happen and 18-20 go as scheduled, does Jim Lovell decide to stay with NASA after Apollo 13 returns? Additional missions also open up the possibility of Walt Cunningham being rewarded for turning the Skylab program around and getting a seat. All sorts of what ifs here to contemplate on a rainy day when one can envision the world where NASA gets all of the funding it needs and deserves.

---

Jim Lovell had already announced Apollo 13 was his last mission before launch. I believe he said after the flight that he was prepared to fly the mission again (to Fra Mauro) but the re-flight was given to Shepard's crew on Apollo 14. I think that would take Lovell out of our speculation.

Walter Cunningham was working against NASA politics in his bid to fly again. After Apollo 7 some of the NASA leadership did not want any of that crew to fly again. None of them did. Having said that however, I do think that with more missions available he may have made it eventually.

Yes this is good fun.

Best wishes

Rob Wood

posted August 15, 2002 03:14 PM               

According to the Astronaut Hall of Fame the crews for Apollo 18-20 were as follows.

1. Apollo 18 - Richard Gordon(CDR), Vance Brand(CMP), Harrison Schmitt(LMP)

2. Apollo 19 - Fred Haise(CDR), William Pogue(CMP), Jerry Carr(LMP)

3. Apollo 20 - Edgar Mitchell(CDR), Paul Weitz(CMP), Jack Lousma(LMP)

Harrison Schmitt replaced Joe Engle on Apollo 17 which probably wouldn't have happened if the other 3 missions were not cancelled. Pete Conrad did go to Skylab right after his Apollo 12 flight. You can read about him replacing Walt Cunningham as the Astronaut in charge of the Skylab program in "The All American Boys".

I found it interesting enough to take a picture of that part of the wall and will go home and scan it this evening and post it later.

Charles

posted August 15, 2002 07:19 PM               

From The Last Frontier........

posted August 16, 2002 01:31 PM               

From The Last Frontier........

posted August 16, 2002 03:59 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Werb:
O.k. now......... say that these guys ( any crew configuration ) got their chance to fly on Apollo's 18, 19 , or 20. Who can we assume would have taken the positions for the 3 Skylab crews? and the backups as well. Certainly there would have been extra spaces for some of the flights as Pogue, Carr, and a couple others may have made it to the vicinity of the moon instead.

From The Last Frontier........

Mike

---

Oh! Well done Mike. That has got the brain cells ticking over big time. I will take a rain check and get back to you in about a year.

Seriously, in his book 'Skylab' pages 303 et seq) Dave Shayler discusses this very point. He says that if Apollo's 18 to 20 had flown the Skylab crews could have looked something like this:

1. Conrad Kerwin McCandless
2. Bean Garriott Lind
3. Cunningham Gibson Crippen

It is clear from his wording that he is speculating on the assignments. He thinks Conrad would have opted for the first Skylab flight ahead of Apollo 20. Shame we cannot ask Pete I'm sure he would have had a good laugh at all our speculation, after all we cannot change history.

We seem to have two threads going here. How did we manage that? Was it temporary40's fault or Bruce's?

All in fun - Best wishes

Rob Wood