Author
|
Topic: Apollo 8 original crew (AS-503) spacesuits
|
Paul78zephyr Member Posts: 692 From: Hudson, MA Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 09-05-2020 10:45 PM
In this photo of the original Apollo 8 crew (c. late 1967/early 1968) with Mike Collins, what spacesuits are they wearing? There is no American flag or name tags. It doesn't quite look like an A7L. |
MOL Member Posts: 113 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2004
|
posted 09-06-2020 04:50 PM
Well the reason they don't look like A7Ls is because they are not — those suits are A6Ls. |
Henry Heatherbank Member Posts: 259 From: Adelaide, South Australia Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 09-07-2020 04:18 AM
In an alternative universe, would we be looking at the Apollo 13 commander in the middle there? |
Headshot Member Posts: 940 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 09-07-2020 10:18 AM
I am confused. Technically, at the time the picture was taken, was not that the Apollo 9 crew? I thought that the 8 and 9 crews were switched in mid-1968. |
Delta7 Member Posts: 1575 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
|
posted 09-07-2020 11:23 AM
quote: Originally posted by Henry Heatherbank: In an alternative universe, would we be looking at the Apollo 13 commander in the middle there?
Has Mike Collins ever said if he would've considered flying a third time if he had flown Apollo 8 instead of Apollo 11? In all likelihood he would've followed the same path as the man who replaced him on Apollo 8, Jim Lovell. |
Skylon Member Posts: 289 From: Registered: Sep 2010
|
posted 09-07-2020 04:19 PM
I think that is why AS-503 is in parenthesis in the subject line. Something that Borman's crew was pointed at flying since 1967. I am not totally clear when the decision was made to move the D Mission from a dual Saturn IB launch, to a single Saturn V and specifically if 503 would have been their ride. As for Collins on Apollo 13, I don't recall any comments about "what-ifs" had he flown Apollo 8. I suspect backing up Apollo 11 would have seemed important enough that he would have stayed with the program at least for that, and if so, why not fly to the moon in 1970? But it's hard to read how enthusiastic Collins would have been about the prospect and it seems like too much of a "what if" for him to have contemplated. |
LM-12 Member Posts: 3469 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
|
posted 09-07-2020 04:33 PM
quote: Originally posted by Skylon: I am not totally clear when the decision was made...
The AS-503 Borman crew in the photo was announced in December 1966. That mission was cancelled after the fire.The November 1967 crew announcement had the McDivitt crew on AS-504, and the Borman crew on AS-505. AS-503 was planned as an unmanned mission at the time, as I understand it. The April 1968 crew announcement had the McDivitt crew on AS-503, and the Borman crew on AS-504. Borman, Collins and Anders were training as the third manned Apollo crew.
|