Naval Aviators

I glanced in my copy of Hansen's "First Man, The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong" and happened on a passage about the background of the
Apollo pilots charged with landing the LMs on the Moon: six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

I wonder if there are enough training or experience differences to
have played a role, or if it was an individual talent / skill issue.

Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?

wrote:
Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?

Here's one list of presumably all astronauts (haven't plowed through it for
an answer):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_by_selection

wrote:
six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

That's because they needed one Air Force to fly it and six Navy pukes to
keep it afloat once they touched down. *tongue in cheek*

TheSmokingGnu

On Jan 23, 7:13*pm, wrote:
I glanced in my copy of Hansen's "First Man, The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong" and happened on a passage about the background of the
Apollo pilots charged with landing the LMs on the Moon: six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

I wonder if there are enough training or experience differences to
have played a role, or if it was an individual talent / skill issue.

Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?

Walt Cunningham but he was a Naval Aviator ( USMC) before he went into
the space program. I had the pleasure of hooking up with him again at
the birthday ball here when he was keynote speaker and I got to sit
with him and his wife. Hadn't seen him since MCAS Yuma many years
earler (1962-3) when he flew in with a T-38 and NASA on the tail.
I suspect the program had as much to do with politics as anything
else......
Semper Fi - Ol S&B

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:13:05 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I glanced in my copy of Hansen's "First Man, The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong" and happened on a passage about the background of the
Apollo pilots charged with landing the LMs on the Moon: six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

I wonder if there are enough training or experience differences to
have played a role, or if it was an individual talent / skill issue.

ISTR reading somewhere there was an Air Force policy that led to fewer
applicants. It may have been (just speculating here) that the Air Force wanted
to keep the best candidates to fly the fleet of spacecraft it intended to
acquire.

Ron Wanttaja

wrote in message
...

I glanced in my copy of Hansen's "First Man, The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong" and happened on a passage about the background of the
Apollo pilots charged with landing the LMs on the Moon: six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

I wonder if there are enough training or experience differences to
have played a role, or if it was an individual talent / skill issue.

Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?


Yes, Neil Armstrong.

On Jan 24, 12:13*pm, wrote:
I glanced in my copy of Hansen's "First Man, The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong" and happened on a passage about the background of the
Apollo pilots charged with landing the LMs on the Moon: six of the
seven chosen were naval aviators
(Armstrong,Conrad,Shepard,Young,Cernan). Only one was US Air Force
(Scott). Deke Slayton hand picked the guys -- and Slayton was Air
Force.

I wonder if there are enough training or experience differences to
have played a role, or if it was an individual talent / skill issue.

Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?

interesting stat. you could say that 7 out of 10 LM commanders were
Navy
Lovell ( Apollo 13), Gordon ( Apollo 18 - cancelled) were Navy
McDivitt ( Apollo 9) and Stafford ( Apollo 10) were Air Force.

If the commanders flew the LMs why was the second guy always called
the LM pilot?
I am sure there has been plenty of civilian pilots in the shuttle
program but not as pilots.

Harrison Schmitt ( Apollo 17 Lunar module pilot) was a civillian but
to what extent did he help fly the LM?
Is there really anything in common with flying an airplane and an LM?
Terry
PPL ( and aspiring astronaut)

Any civilian pilots ever in the US space program?

Yes, Neil Armstrong.

Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was an aviator for the United
States Navy and saw action in the Korean War.

So, then he worked for NACA after getting out of the navy. So, at that
point he was a civilian.

What I meant was: any civilians who were not originally trained in
military flight programs but in rather in civilian training programs.

Harrison Schmitt was mentioned. A geologist. Of course!

Harrison Schmitt ( Apollo 17 Lunar module pilot) was a civillian but
to what extent did he help fly the LM?
Is there really anything in common with flying an airplane and an LM?
Terry
PPL ( and aspiring astronaut)

Check out the NASA footage of the practice LMs being flown.

Here's a link I found to some posts about flying the thing -- of
course it is the Internet so, maybe complete BS.

http://yarchive.net/space/apollo/lun...e_landing.html

Is there really anything in common with flying an airplane and an LM?
Terry
PPL ( and aspiring astronaut)

Try your luck. They got Eugene Cernan to give it a go:

http://eaglelander3d.com/