"First Man" Any Thoughts?

Henry Spencer wrote:

Slayton's book actually makes this quite clear: even had there been no
technical reason for Armstrong going out first, he was the senior
astronaut and therefore had priority. Seniority counted for a lot in
Slayton's astronaut corps.

Was he senior because he'd been in the corps longer, or because he
was the commander? Could you have a crew with the commander an
astronaut that had served in the corps for a lesser time?

In article ,
Mary Pegg wrote:
Slayton's book actually makes this quite clear: even had there been no
technical reason for Armstrong going out first, he was the senior
astronaut and therefore had priority. Seniority counted for a lot...

Was he senior because he'd been in the corps longer, or because he
was the commander?

He'd been in the corps longer -- he was part of the second group, while
Aldrin was from the third (as was Collins).

Aldrin probably also rated as extra-junior because he wasn't a test pilot.
The third group could substitute extra engineering qualifications for
test-pilot background, and Aldrin did. But that made him a second-class
citizen in Slayton's corps; Slayton admits that he thought of the third
group as really being two groups, the test pilots and the rest, with the
test pilots aimed at immediate flight assignments and the others in
support jobs for the moment. Aldrin made it to a Gemini flight assignment
(and thus to enough experience to land an early Apollo assignment) only
because the original Gemini 9 crew was killed in a plane crash, and that
moved later backup crews up.

Could you have a crew with the commander an
astronaut that had served in the corps for a lesser time?

I don't think that ever happened under Slayton. There were ties, but no
actual reversals that I can remember. By rights, Al Shepard probably
*should* have been LMP rather than Commander on his Apollo flight, but
that just wasn't going to happen to Slayton's buddy.

However, when Slayton *himself* moved into the flight rotation, he didn't
have *his* buddy setting the crew assignments for him. He'd made a draft
crew selection -- with himself as commander -- but gave the final decision
to Chris Kraft. Kraft put Stafford (second group) in as commander, with
Brand (fifth group, fourth if you don't count the scientist-astronauts)
and Slayton (first group and the most senior active astronaut) as crew.

(He was the first chief astronaut to try to give himself a plum
assignment, but he wasn't the last. For example, Hubble's first firm
launch date was mid-1986, and the crew assigned to that mission by chief
astronaut John Young was commanded by none other than John Young. The
Challenger disaster put that crew assignment back up in the air, and then
Young got himself unofficially grounded and lost that slot.)
--
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mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

Mary Pegg wrote:

Slayton's book actually makes this quite clear: even had there been no
technical reason for Armstrong going out first, he was the senior
astronaut and therefore had priority. Seniority counted for a lot in
Slayton's astronaut corps.


Was he senior because he'd been in the corps longer, or because he
was the commander?

Both.

Could you have a crew with the commander an
astronaut that had served in the corps for a lesser time?

Apollo-Soyuz comes to mind.

--
Dave Michelson

Dave Michelson wrote:

Mary Pegg wrote:

Slayton's book actually makes this quite clear: even had there been no
technical reason for Armstrong going out first, he was the senior
astronaut and therefore had priority. Seniority counted for a lot in
Slayton's astronaut corps.


Was he senior because he'd been in the corps longer, or because he
was the commander?

Both.

Could you have a crew with the commander an
astronaut that had served in the corps for a lesser time?

Apollo-Soyuz comes to mind.

In which case, is the commander the senior astronaut, or is it the
longest-serving?

"Dave Michelson" wrote in message
news:ybtof.120343$Gd6.104275@pd7tw3no...
Mary Pegg wrote:

Could you have a crew with the commander an astronaut that had served in
the corps for a lesser time?

Apollo-Soyuz comes to mind.

Most of Story Musgrave's flights would qualify too. Although, he wasn't
qualified to be a commander.