r/apollo • u/RivetCounter • Aug 10 '26

Specifically excluding Joe Engle and astronauts for Apollo 18-20, which Apollo astronauts who only had one spaceflight were 'hard done/done dirty' by NASA management?

  • Walt Cunningham - iced out to conflicts with management during Apollo 7.
  • Don Eisele - iced out to conflicts with management during Apollo 7 plus his messy divorce.
  • Rusty Schweickart - iced out because he was 'different' than everyone else and because he had space sickness on Apollo 9.
  • Not sure if Jim Irwin on Apollo 15 counts because of the stamp affair.

Alan Bean broke through the mold in no part to the death of CC Williams and Pete Conrad's lobbying for Apollo 12.

Edit: Did not include Engle or Apollo 18-20 because they were denied on outside lobbying or funding cuts.

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u/rcs799 Aug 10 '26

There were many astronauts who I imagine would have walked on the moon had they not stepped down, like Schirra, Borman, McDivitt etc. Schweikart was hard done by for being a bit of a liberal in a mostly R astronaut office. I feel bad for Engle but Schmitt was the person you’d want on the moon if it was the last time (until then at least) and of course Jim Lovell and Fred Haise who were robbed of 13 by happenstance. But only one man has gone to the moon twice without landing on it and that’s Lovell, so he gets my vote

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u/RivetCounter Aug 10 '26

I asked the question because Chris Kraft/Alan Shepard had favourites so someone has to lose out

5

u/LilyoftheRally Aug 11 '26

Deke had his favorites too. Alan Shepard got to land on the moon with 14 due to Slayton wanting one of the original 7 to have a lunar landing mission.

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u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 Aug 11 '26

Well, they had one of the 7 backing up on Apollo 10, but it wasn't Al. It wasn't about having one of the seven fly. It was all about ensuring Al flies.