Rogere Chaffee-U2 photos for Kennedy?

Was Roger Chaffee the actual U-2 pilot who took the San Cristobal
photos that were shown to Kennedy and displayed in the UN by Adlai
Stevenson?

Bill wrote:

Was Roger Chaffee the actual U-2 pilot who took the San
Cristobal photos that were shown to Kennedy and displayed in
the UN by Adlai Stevenson?

Chaffee was not a U-2 pilot. U-2 pilots at the time were either CIA
or Air Force. Not impossible for a Navy pilot like Chaffee to be
flying U-2s in an exchange program of some sort (like Glenn flying
F-86s with the AF during Korea) but in fact he flew RA-3s during
the crisis.

Jim Davis

In article ,
Jim Davis writes:
Bill wrote:

Was Roger Chaffee the actual U-2 pilot who took the San
Cristobal photos that were shown to Kennedy and displayed in
the UN by Adlai Stevenson?

Chaffee was not a U-2 pilot. U-2 pilots at the time were either CIA
or Air Force. Not impossible for a Navy pilot like Chaffee to be
flying U-2s in an exchange program of some sort (like Glenn flying
F-86s with the AF during Korea) but in fact he flew RA-3s during
the crisis.


Just so - he was a Heavy Recon guy. His squadron flew stuff like
ELINT missions & long range oblique photo recon during the Crisis.
While it wasn't exactly the same thing as zapping off low level
verticals from RF-8s or RF-101s, it was plenty challenging & had its
own risks. (AS in you have to stay up above the horizon to monitor all
those SAM and GCI radars - and all the time you're monitoring them,
they're monitoring you.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 10:11:02 -0400, Bill wrote:

Was Roger Chaffee the actual U-2 pilot who took the San Cristobal
photos that were shown to Kennedy and displayed in the UN by Adlai
Stevenson?

A USAF pilot named Buddy Brown took the photos that were shown to
Kennedy. Kennedy even complimented him on his photographic abilities.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

Rogere Chaffee-U2 photos for Kennedy?

U2Caffee




NASA History

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

Detailed Biographies of Apollo I Crew - Roger Chaffee
by Mary C. Zornio
"You'll be flying along some nights with a full moon. You're up at 45,000 feet.
Up there you can see it like you can't see it down here. It's just the big,
bright, clear moon. You look up there and just say to yourself: I've got to get
up there. I've just got to get one of those flights."
-Roger Chaffee (The New York Times, January 29, 1967, p. 48.)
"On my honor, I will do my best..." are the first eight words of the Scout Oath
for the Boy Scouts of America. Individually, the words are short and simple.
Collectively, however, they speak volumes and serve to inspire millions of boys
to strive for excellence. Lieutenant Commander Roger Bruce Chaffee was a Scout
for whom the Oath was more than just mere words. He took the pledge to heart
and accepted the challenge to fully live the words of the Oath. Whether he was
meticulously hand crafting items from wood or training to be the youngest man
ever to fly in space, Chaffee always did his best by putting one hundred
percent of himself into the effort.
In the early part of this century, various illnesses claimed many lives. One of
the most dreaded of these diseases was scarlet fever. In January 1935, Don
Chaffee came down with a case of scarlet fever and immediately was placed under
quarantine. Because the disease was considered to be highly contagious and very
serious, his wife, Blanche was told that she would not be allowed to deliver
her baby at the local hospital; officials simply could not risk exposing other
patients to the illness. Additionally, she could not give birth in their own
home because of the risk of infection to both mother and newborn. Therefore,
Blanche, nicknamed "Mike" and her two year old daughter, Donna moved in with
her parents at their home in nearby Grand Rapids, Michigan. Roger Bruce Chaffee
was born two weeks later on February 15, 1935. Toward the end of the month, Don
Chaffee was removed from quarantine and brought his family back home to
Greenville, Michigan, where they lived for the next seven years.

Earlier in his career, Don Chaffee had been a barnstorming pilot who flew a
Waco 10 biplane. He was a regular site at fairgrounds and made a bit of extra
money on the side by transporting passengers. He also piloted planes for
parachute jumpers. Later, Don worked for Army Ordnance in Greenville and in
1942, he was transferred to the Doehler-Jarvis plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan
where he served as Chief Inspector of Army Ordnance.

Don shared his love of flying with his son and at the age of seven, Roger
enjoyed his first ride in an airplane when the family went on a short excursion
over Lake Michigan. Although it was a relatively brief flight, Roger was
absolutely thrilled. To satisfy his continued interested in planes, Don set up
a card table in the living room where he and Roger would create model airplanes
piece by piece. By the time he was nine, Roger would point to a plane flying
overhead and predict, "I'll be up there flying in one of those someday". (1)

Roger's youth was characterized by strong family ties reinforced by activities
involving his mother, father and sister. Trips to the Holland Tulip Festival
delighted the entire family. The Ramona Amusement Park was a wonderful
summertime attraction to which the family went on a weekly basis. The Chaffees
also kept in close contact with grandparents and tried to make an annual trip
to Canada to visit with extended family members. Ice skating, fishing,
swimming, badminton and croquet were enjoyed as a family.

Chaffee established himself as a well-rounded individual at an early age. He
loved making and flying model airplanes, but he also enjoyed his electric train
set which snaked throughout the living room. He inherited a love and
appreciation for guns from his grandfather, with whom he would spend hours
target shooting at a nearby gravel pit or cleaning and polishing their
firearms. Roger became interested in music in the fifth grade, participating in
the city-wide chorus and playing the French horn in the school band. He later
switched to the cornet and eventually progressed to the trumpet. Once he
reached high school, he put his musical talent to work by forming a band with
several other boys which hired itself out to play at post-game dances.

Although his parents provided him with a small allowance as compensation for
chores done around the house, Roger always had a flair for finding ways to make
a little extra money. He was on the road every morning by five o'clock
delivering newspapers. Some of his elderly customers greatly valued his
dependability and hired him to do odd jobs and run errands. Many homeowners in
the area accepted the enterprising young lad's offer to stencil their house
numbers on the front step risers for the grand sum of one dollar per job.

At the age of thirteen, Chaffee branched out his interests once again by
becoming a member of a local Boy Scout troop. He soon began earning merit
badges. After the first year, he had acquired a total of ten badges and was
awarded the Order of the Arrow. Numerous other merit badges followed and by the
time Chaffee was a high school junior, he had earned most every possible badge.
Roger achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and later was presented with the Bronze
and Gold Palms which signified that he had earned additional badges after
becoming an Eagle Scout. Throughout his years in scouting, Roger was an
enthusiastic participant at summer camp, gaining many practical skills in
camping, cooking and outdoor living. He served one year as Assistant
Water-Front Director teaching inexperienced scouts how to swim. His scouting
experience and business sense also proved useful in his after school job at the
Boy Scout section of a local department store.

By the time Roger was fourteen, he had developed an interest in electronics
engineering and tinkered with various radio projects in his spare time. In high
school, he received excellent grades and maintained a 92 average. Vocational
tests showed that Roger's strongest abilities were in the area of science. He
also scored high mechanically and artistically. Mathematics and science were
his favorite subjects, with chemistry being particularly appealing. Once the
family switched to a gas heating system, Roger transformed the outdated coal
bin area into his own private workshop where he spent countless hours
experimenting with his chemistry set. By the time he was a junior in high
school, he was leaning toward a career as a nuclear physicist. As a senior, he
established a lofty goal for himself: he wanted to someday have his name
written in history books. Before the world's super powers took their first
halting steps into space, Roger Chaffee had shared his dream of being the first
man on the moon with his closest friends.

On June 11, 1953, Roger Chaffee graduated in the top fifth of his class from
Central High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied for scholarships from
Annapolis, Rhodes and the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC).
Because he was not yet ready to make the required permanent commitment to the
U.S. Navy, he felt obliged to turn down his appointment to Annapolis. The
Rhodes scholarship was not available to candidates who desired to major in
engineering. NROTC offered Chaffee a Naval scholarship and in September 1953,
he began the fall semester at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
After living in the campus men's hall for three weeks, he moved into the Phi
Kappa Sigma fraternity house. He made the Dean's List and completed his
freshman year with a B+ average. By the end of his first year at the Institute,
Chaffee had decided to combine his love of flying with his aptitude in science
and mathematics in order to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering. Having
made this decision, Roger applied to Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana
which was well-known for its quality aeronautical engineering program. His
request to transfer from the Illinois Institute of Technology was approved by a
review board in Washington, D.C. and Purdue accepted Chaffee as a transfer
student for the 1954 fall semester.

In the summer of 1954, Chaffee was scheduled to report for duty onboard the
battleship Wisconsin for an eight week voyage as part of the NROTC program. In
order to qualify for the duty, he was required to take extra training and
complete a variety of physical tests. He performed poorly during the eye
examination. One eye was so weak that he nearly was failed on the spot.
However, the attending physician gave him a break and told him that he would be
allowed to retake the test the next morning. Passing the eye test was critical;
if Chaffee did not pass the examination, he never would fly professionally.
Roger spent part of the long night walking along the shores of Lake Michigan.
Before dropping off to sleep, he offered numerous prayers for successful test
results. The exam was repeated the next morning. Chaffee passed with flying
colors and the attending physician certified him to participate in the NROTC
program aboard the Wisconsin. During the two month cruise, Chaffee docked in
far-off ports in England, Scotland, France and the island of Cuba.

Chaffee found himself with some extra time on his hands between the end of his
eight week naval duty and the start of the new semester at Purdue. To fill the
gap, his father found him a job operating a gear cutter. The gears were molded
from soft black iron and "each day he came out at the end of his shift looking
like a coal miner". (2) Although he appreciated earning the extra money, Roger,
who liked things neat and clean, stated, "I learned one thing on this job. I'm
not going to make my living this way for the rest of my life!" (3)

In the fall of 1954, Chaffee arrived in Lafayette, Indiana and immediately
sought out the Purdue chapter of his old fraternity. He lived at the frat house
for the duration of his studies at the University. A job waiting on tables in
one of the women's residences provided him with an income, but Roger disliked
working in such a prissy environment, where the character and decor definitely
catered to more feminine tastes. He quickly found a different job by putting
his mechanical and artistic skills to use as a draftsman for a small business
near the campus. He remained with this position throughout his sophomore year.
As a junior engineering student, Chaffee applied for a position in the
Mathematics Department at Purdue and was hired to teach freshman math classes.

In September 1955, at the beginning of his junior year, Chaffee went on a blind
date with a young woman from Oklahoma City named Martha Horn. His first
impression of his date was that "she was a naive Southern girl". (4) Martha, a
college freshman, considered Roger to be "a handsome but smart-alec
upperclassman". (5) In spite of their first impressions of one another, they
continued to date throughout the rest of the semester and by the end of the
Christmas vacation, Martha had agreed to wear Roger's fraternity pin. Chaffee
introduced Martha to his parents in the fall of 1956 and confided to his
father, "Dad, I've gone out with a lot of girls, but this is it. Someday I'll
marry Martha." (6) He followed through on his prediction and proposed to Martha
Horn on October 12, 1956. The couple set a wedding date for the summer of 1957.


Chaffee's second naval tour took place at the end of his junior year onboard
the destroyer USS Perry. The points of destination for this cruise were the
Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Sweden. He was unable to find temporary
employment to finish out the summer break, so he began crafting a large model
of a ship named The Cutty Sark to pass the time. He completed the project
during spring break of his senior year. Recalling the many hours of work he had
devoted to building the ship, Roger thought it was "too bad to have it sit
around and gather dust". (7) He knew of a perfect spot for the ship back at
Purdue. Having been elected as president of his fraternity, he had use of an
office which was furnished with a large bookcase that seemed to be tailor made
for housing The Cutty Sark. Therefore, he built a glass display case for his
prized possession and brought it back with him to Purdue.

During his final semester at the university, Chaffee began flight training as a
NROTC air cadet flying a Cessna 172. He was judged to be ready to fly solo on
March 29, 1957, only twenty four days after making his first flight out of the
Purdue University Airport. After receiving additional dual and solo flight
time, he took his private flight test on May 24, 1957 and passed with an above
average grade of eighty six percent. David Kress, who administered the test,
recommended Chaffee for further military flight training.

On June 2, 1957, Chaffee was awarded a BS in aeronautical engineering from
Purdue University. He graduated with distinction and received a key to the
National Society of Engineers as a result of his solid academic performance.
Although his undergraduate days were over, Roger had every intention of
continuing his education. "It took me four years to learn how little I knew.
Knowledge is vast. There is so much more to learn, and I am going to take
advantage of every opportunity that comes along." (8)

Chaffee completed his Naval training on August 22, 1957 and was commissioned as
an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. Two days later, he traveled to Oklahoma City for
his wedding to Martha Horn. After a fourteen day honeymoon trip to Colorado,
Chaffee was assigned to temporary duties in Norfolk, Virginia. In November
1957, he reported for military flight training in Pensacola, Florida where he
learned to fly the T-34 and T-28. He later was transferred to Kingsville, Texas
to train on the F9F Cougar jet. He advanced quickly and was scheduled to begin
advanced flight instruction in November 1958. One day before he left for his
aircraft carrier training, he became the proud father of a healthy baby girl,
Sheryl Lyn.

Although Roger did not like the thought of leaving his wife and newborn
daughter, he realized that this particular training was critical to his career
advancement. Accordingly, he reported for aircraft carrier training duty on
November 18, 1958. Chaffee found landing an aircraft on a carrier to be a
challenge, stating that "setting that big bird down on the flight deck was like
landing on a postage stamp". (9) He compared night flight to "getting shot into
a bottle of ink". (10) Chaffee completed his flight training and won his wings
in early 1959.

Roger was given a variety of assignments and participated in numerous training
duties over the next few years. He worked extensively on the A3D photo
reconnaissance plane. Because of his complete understanding of the plane, he
was granted permission to fly it, thus becoming one of the youngest pilots
allowed to fly an A3D. While all of the additional experience and training
proved to be very good for Chaffee's naval career, it did require him to make
sacrifices at home. Although he had managed to be present for the birth of his
daughter, Chaffee was in Africa on a training mission when his son Stephen was
born on July 3, 1961. He was able to spend a brief period of time with his
family upon his return, but was soon shipped out to California to attend Safety
and Reliability School. This particular training helped him in his duties as a
safety and quality control officer at the Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 at the
Jacksonville, Florida Naval Air Station. One of his primary duties was to
create a quality control manual geared for maintaining flight squadron
operations. His guidebook was extremely precise and some considered it to be
overly exacting. However, others "respected his judgment... and knew that he
had their welfare at heart". (11) They were right. Chaffee already had lost
more than one of his Navy buddies in flying accidents and, as a result, he
became very aware that "there's only room for one mistake. You can buy the farm
only once." (12) For Roger, "there was only one way... the perfect way; nothing
less would do". (13) In spite of his drive for perfection, Squadron 62
overwhelmingly supported Chaffee, in part because he never asked the men to do
anything that he wasn't willing to do himself.


Another of Chaffee's duties while serving with the V.A.P. 62 Squadron was to
photograph Cape Canaveral, which was gearing up to become the launch area for
the newly created manned space program. He also flew numerous flights to Cuba,
often as many as three a day. During one such mission, he took important aerial
photographs which gave crucial documentation of the Cuban missile buildup. When
he was not flying for the Navy, he gave private flying instructions to
civilians in exchange for his personal use of their plane. Additionally, he
began taking graduate level courses in engineering. Chaffee ultimately knew the
direction in which he wanted to head and he knew how to get there. "Ever since
the first seven Mercury astronauts were named, I've been keeping my studies
up... At the end of each year, the Navy asks its officers what type of duty
they would aspire to. Each year, I indicated I wanted to train as a test pilot
for astronaut status." (14) When NASA began recruiting for its third group of
astronauts in mid 1962, Roger Chaffee became part of an initial pool of 1,800
applicants who sought one of the coveted positions opening up in the astronaut
corps.

In late 1962, Roger was given the opportunity to pursue a Master's degree in
reliability engineering in earnest. He gladly accepted the invitation and moved
his family to Dayton, Ohio in order to study at the Air Force Institute of
Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB. While keeping up with his studies, Chaffee
continued to participate in astronaut candidate testing. By mid June of 1963,
the number of pilots competing for the spots had dropped to 271. Various
physical and psychological tests were administered repeatedly. This time,
Chaffee experienced no difficulties with the eye examinations. However, one of
the physical tests did show that he had a very small lung capacity. As the
weeks dragged by, psychologists continued to probe their minds by administering
Rorschach ink blot tests and personality inventories. They rated their
intellectual capacity with standard Intelligence Quotient tests. Physicians
poked, prodded, x-rayed and tested each man and managed to violate virtually
every part of their bodies from head to toe in the process. No anatomical part
or function was left unchecked. Chaffee stated that "They managed to thoroughly
humiliate us at least three times a day!" (15) After what seemed to be an
eternity, the candidates completed the grueling series of qualifying exams and
returned home to wait anxiously for NASA to complete its selection process.

To ease the tension of waiting for a telephone call that might never come,
Roger went on a brief hunting trip to Michigan. When he returned home on
October 14, Chaffee learned that NASA had called while he had been away
hunting. Upon contacting the headquarters in Houston, he was told that he had
been selected as one of America's newest astronauts. On October 18, 1963, Roger
Chaffee flew to Houston and was officially named to the astronaut corps. He was
joined by thirteen other pilots:

Major Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., U.S. Air Force
Captain William A. Anders, U.S. Air Force
Captain Charles A. Bassett II, U.S. Air Force
Lieutenant Alan L. Bean, U.S. Navy
Lieutenant Eugene A. Cernan, U.S. Navy
Captain Michael Collins, U.S. Air Force
Mr. R. Walter Cunningham
Captain Donn F. Eisele, U.S. Air Force
Captain Theodore C. Freeman, U.S. Air Force
Lieutenant Commander Richard F. Gordon, U.S. Navy
Mr. Russell L. Schweickart
Captain David R. Scott, U.S. Air Force
Captain Clifton C. Williams, U.S. Marine Corps

After spending the Christmas holidays with family in Michigan and Oklahoma, the
Chaffees went about the business of moving to Houston, Texas, home of the new
Manned Space Center. Having been transferred so many times before, moving was
second nature to them by now. They found temporary living quarters in a duplex
apartment in Clear Lake City. The family remained in the apartment for several
months while Roger drafted plans for their new house and finalized arrangements
on a building lot in Nassau Bay. Construction of their yellow brick home began
in March and was completed shortly after. The house "seemed to signal his
personality - well-planned, modern, independent - white rugs and a Grecian
bathtub - a lush but spick-and-span formality". (16)

Although Chaffee always "wanted to fly and perform adventurous flying tasks"
(17), he was realistic about his new role as an astronaut. "It won't be just a
throttle-jockey job; anyone can fly a plane, you know. It will be an
engineering job, a tremendous scientific challenge." (18) However, Chaffee and
the other thirteen rookies soon discovered what sixteen other men had learned
already: there was much more to being an astronaut than simply knowing how to
fly and work a slide rule.

Training for the third crop of astronauts began in earnest in 1964. It was
estimated that each astronaut would "spend fifty hours a week for two to five
years training for a single flight". (19) The initial phase focused on
academics. The instruction was intense, with various concepts and procedures
from assorted professional fields crammed into countless hours of college-level
lectures. Field trips supplemented the typical class work in order to gain
hands-on experience. The Grand Canyon yielded information about earth's
geography. Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona offered opportunities to
study lunar craters. New Mexico's Slate Hill allowed the men to become familiar
with the various surveying instruments and techniques which would be used to
map and measure the moon. Rock formations and lava flows were studied in
Alaska, Iceland and Hawaii.

Having stretched their intellects, the astronauts moved into the second phase
of instruction, or contingency training. The purpose of the survival exercises
was to prepare crews to handle unexpected emergencies, such as a land landing
in remote areas or a crisis after splashdown. Chaffee's introduction to the
second phase of training took place in Panama where he and his colleagues were
dropped into the middle of the jungle by helicopter and paired off to fend for
themselves.

Thanks to his Boy Scout training, Roger had more outdoor living experience than
some of the other men. Still, jungle survival was a challenge. Because the men
carried only their parachutes and survival kits, they needed to make do with
whatever indigenous food items they could scrounge up. Roger managed to find a
variety of edibles during his three day trek. "He described the hearts of palm
trees as delicious, snakes and iguana lizards as not so delicious and crabs and
land snails as just plain terrible." (20)

Having managed to survive for three days in a jungle environment, Chaffee and
his peers moved on to dealing with a different type of contingency plan:
survival in desert terrain. To achieve the maximum effect, the training took
place in the desert near Reno, Nevada during the month of August when ground
temperatures soared to 160 degrees. Wearing only long underwear, shoes and
loose-fitting robes which they had fashioned from parachutes, the astronauts
paired off for two days in the scorching desert. Lizards and snakes provided
most of their meals. Inflated life rafts served as mattresses and parachutes
were rigged up as tents. Once Chaffee had settled into his new "home", he
commented, "We're real cozy... Of course, it could use some wallpaper!" (21)

The final phase of instruction was classified as operational training and
focused on exposing astronauts to the various equipment and systems associated
with the spacecraft and boosters as well as the physical sensations and
experiences related to space flight. Accordingly, Chaffee and his colleagues
spent hours perfecting their skills in spacecraft simulators and learning how
to handle problems that might occur during an actual flight. They rehearsed
water egress procedures and rescue techniques. Their bodies were prepared to
withstand the high G forces they would encounter during launch and reentry.
Flights on board Air Force cargo planes allowed them to experience brief
periods of weightlessness. Techniques and movements used in Extravehicular
Activity (EVA) were refined during underwater training. They visited
manufacturing plants to keep an eye on spacecraft production.

One of Chaffee's most valuable training experiences came in the form of serving
as one of the capsule communicators (capcom) for the Gemini 4 mission in June
1965. He relayed information back and forth between crew members Jim McDivitt
and Ed White and the Director of Flight Crew Operations, Christopher Kraft.
Chaffee served in this capacity along with Eugene Cernan and chief capcom, Gus
Grissom at the recently completed Manned Space Center in Houston. He also was
paired up with Grissom to fly chase planes up to a level of fifty thousand feet
in order to take pictures of the launch of an unmanned Saturn 1B rocket.

On October 31, 1964, the law of averages had reared its ugly head and the
astronaut corps lost its first member when Ted Freeman died in a jet crash
during a routine training mission. Fate was kind for nearly two more years.
Then, Charlie Bassett and Elliott See were lost when they clipped off part of
the McDonnell plant building during an attempted landing in St. Louis. Although
the overall death toll stood at three, no lives had been lost in accidents
directly related to space flight. Chaffee served as pallbearer for Elliott See,
accompanying his body as it was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Once the proper condolences had been paid, however, it was back to business as
usual and the men resumed their training.


Over the years, Chaffee had developed a variety of ways to deal with all of the
stress produced by the intensity and serious nature of his work. Hunting, his
gun collection and home improvement projects filled his need for relaxation. He
tackled each of these pastimes with the same passion he brought to his job.
Roger used his woodworking skills to build a magnificent gun cabinet to house
his growing collection of firearms. His first 22 rifle, which had been a gift
from his parents on his twelfth birthday, a 300 Weatherby, and two old guns
which Chaffee had rebuilt, reconditioned and refinished graced the cabinet. "He
took great pride in making his own rifles, ordering some of the barrels and
lock works from Belgium and carving the stocks from wood which he had brought
back from his trip to Hawaii." (22) In addition, Chaffee never wasted his spent
ammo shells. He owned all of the supplies and equipment, including scales,
scoops, crimping machine, powder and ball necessary to reload his used casings.


Chaffee's artistic streak was evident in the way he maintained his lawn and
arranged the various trees, shrubs and flowers which dotted their property with
the skill and eye of a professional landscaper. When Martha asked her husband
to build a tiny water fountain in the backyard, she wound up with a carefully
engineered waterfall crafted from tons of gravel and hours of backbreaking
work. The cascading waterfall was complimented by the lighting Roger had
installed around their pool. Additionally, he wired their stereo system so that
music could be heard in any room of the house.

Less than one week after Neil Armstrong and David Scott completed their Gemini
VIII flight, NASA named the astronauts who would fly the first Apollo
Earth-orbit mission. Competition for the three positions had been intense with
each man wanting a spot so badly he could taste it. Chaffee was no exception.
He had been training specifically for space flight for nearly two and one half
years and had yet to be named to a mission. He wanted his first flight to
coincide with the first flight of the Apollo-Saturn spacecraft. When the
preliminary announcement came on March 21, 1966, Chaffee discovered that he
would be getting that for which he had been hoping. NASA had named Gus Grissom
as Commander and Ed White as Senior Pilot. Chaffee would complete the crew as
Pilot. James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart were assigned as
members of the back-up crew. Roger enthusiastically summed up his feelings
about his role as Apollo I Pilot: "I'm extremely pleased to be named. I think
it will be a lot of fun." (23) Chaffee beamed with pride when Grissom made his
first public statement as Apollo I Commander: "I think we have a good crew and
I think it will be a good flight." (24) When "asked if there was anything scary
about a first space flight, [Chaffee] replied that there were a lot of unknowns
and problems. This is our business... to find out if this thing will work for
us. I don't see how you could help but be a little bit excited. I don't like to
use the word scary." (25)

The primary purpose of the open-ended flight, which could last up to two weeks,
was to test and evaluate all major spacecraft systems as well as the ground
tracking and control facilities. The prime and back-up crews threw themselves
into the intensive training schedule. Three days after the crew was first
announced, Chaffee flew out to the North American Aviation Plant in Downey,
California to check out production of the Apollo spacecraft. Chaffee had
witnessed the manufacture and assembly of Gemini spacecraft. However, this was
an entirely different

On 20 Oct 2004 14:54:44 GMT, (U2Chaffee) wrote:

Detailed Biographies of Apollo I Crew - Roger Chaffee
by Mary C. Zornio

....Like "mc" is a credible source around these parts.

OM

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