zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Schirra was always one of my favorite
: astronauts and part of that was because of
: the time he logged sitting next to Walter
: Cronkite being the "color guy" on
: every blast off, moon walk, and splashdown.
: You can see him in real clips in apollo 13.

Originally, I was supposed to interview Tom Stafford, Wally's Gemini 6 Sidekick. However, Mr. Stafford came down with a bad cold and had to cancel out. So for about 8-10 hours I had made the trip for naught, and then Wally pinch hit for Mr. Stafford. Ironically, Wally is now no longer with us and his passing was a shock to me because he looked so good, was in such good spirits/cheer. Anyway, I learned that a "substitute" had been hastily arranged when I was blocks away from my computer and any internet access, and I had prepped to speak with Mr. Stafford. So I had to scrap most of my notes and quite a few of my questions (most of which were Apollo-Soyuz, c.861 and Flightmaster based - which is another story) and hastily come up with another set of questions to ask Wally. Of course some of my questions were generic and could be asked of any Astronaut, but the funny thing was, in the back of my mind, I kinda felt I knew Wally, through his appearances on TV, his personality, his nature. It was kind of a calming effect even before I met him.

There will be more on this whole sequence of events posted in the near future. But it was a bit of a roller-coaster ride for me at the time.

: Here's a question--why did NASA pick Neill
: Armstrong to be the first man on the moon? I
: did a quick Wiki search and the answer seems
: to be--it was his turn.
: Before Apollo 11, Armstrong had only one Gemini
: flight which was only semi-successful.
: It seems strange that there wouldn't have been
: more politicking going on, with everyone
: from the White House on down lobbying for
: one astronaut or another.
: Anyone got a better answer?

Yeah, Deke Slayton. If you read Deke! ... Deke Slayton's autobiography you'll find many of the answers. But it'll cost you about $12. Here are a few excerpts from Amazon's listing...

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
For 20 years Slayton, one of the original Mercury astronauts, ran the Astronaut Office at the Manned Spacecraft (later Johnson) Space Center in Houston, a position he assumed after being pulled off his Mercury flight for a minor heart ailment. In that capacity, he played a central role in selecting new astronauts and especially in assembling flight crews. In these posthumously published memoirs, he gives his account of those early years of U.S. manned spaceflight. Compared with the recent Moonshot (LJ 4/15/94), which he coauthored, this book allows the reader to get a sense of the man, of how a farm boy from Wisconsin ended up deciding who would be the first man on the moon and who finally, at the age of 51, got his own spaceflight on the Apollo Soyuz mission-the last Apollo flown. As another valuable addition to the recent first-hand accounts of NASA's early days, this book is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.
Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll., Ga.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
The autobiography of one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, this is one of the best additions to the literature of the early American space effort. Slayton, who'd first flown as a World War II bomber pilot, came to the space program by a somewhat circuitous route. He was grounded in 1962 because of a heart murmur, and actually flew as an astronaut only once, in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission. He was head of the astronaut office, however, and as such, one of the key persons involved in selecting crew, a process he describes with an insider's knowledge of detail and considerable frankness about the virtues and limitations of his colleagues. At the same time, Slayton never lost, nor will his readers miss, the sense of wonder with which space was contemplated in the days when it was a high and gallant dream. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

: best
: Allen

I've read the book and it's well worth the price of admission.

Cheers!

-- Chuck