The Right Stuff

[benzman]

If Grissom had lived there is a fair chance that he would have been the first man on the Moon.  Apparently, according to books I have read, including books by Gene Kranz, Chris Kraft and Deke Slayton, It was decided at a high level that the first man on the Moon should be one of the original seven mercury astronauts.  By the time of the start of Apollo, Deke Slayton and Allan Shepard had both lost flight status due to medical problems, John Glenn had left to go into politics, Scott-Carpenter was persona non grata as officialdom did not like the way he flew his Mercury mission, Gordo Cooper was considered to be too much of a loose cannon and Wally Shirra was loudly telling everyone that he was leaving NASA after flying Apollo 7.  His disobeying of instructions on that flight would have ensured that he never flew again anyhow.  So that only left Gus, which is not as bad as it sounds because many people, including Chris Kraft, considered Gus to be the best, natural stick and rudder flyer of them all.  Gus was held in high regard by the other Mercury astronauts and several thought that he would be chosen as the first American to fly in space. NASA obviously believed in him or the would never have chosen him as commander of Gemini 3, the first manned Gemini, or as commander of Apollo 1, Intended to be the first manned Apollo flight.  I think Gus was poorly treated by Tom Wolfe in the book and more so by the Right Stuff film.

  By the way, in his book Deke Slayton, who was in charge of crew assignments, says that although Gus was his choice for the first moon landing it was never really a given.  It was never hard and fast that Apollo 11 would be the first landing attempt.  That would depend on the previous Apollo missions successfully achieving their goals.  Crew assignments were made well in advance because of the large amount of training required.  Many people think that Neil Armstrong was chosen purely because he was a civilian, but there was much more to it than that.  Including a degree of luck!

 

Edited April 8, 2016 by benzman
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[Ten Key]

Neil Armstrong also had experience as a NASA test pilot for the X-15 program. I'm sure that helped him along a bit.

[benzman]

1 hour ago, Ten Key said:

Neil Armstrong also had experience as a NASA test pilot for the X-15 program. I'm sure that helped him along a bit.

Absolutely!  If you read Milt Thompson's book 'At the edge of space'  you will find quite a few anecdotes about Neil's time with the X-15.  Also, his handling of the malfunction on Gemini 8 would not have gone against him.

 

[Jeb1969]

I personally love The Right Stuff it is right up there with Apollo 13 as my favorite quasi-true story films set in Outer Space, quite coincidentally Actor Ed Harris stars in both of those films. In The Right Stuff he plays Astronaut John Glenn, however in Apollo 13 he has the important role of Flight Director Gene Kranz. My only complaints about The Right Stuff: is they cite Star City as the Soviet launch site which is not true. Star City is the Soviet (now Russian) space Training site which was founded after Gagarin's historic mission, also in the dramatizations of both the launches of Sputnik and Vostok I the film uses the wrong launch vehicles, in the film they are portrayed as Soyuz launch Vehicles (the obvious escape tower jutting out of the payload fairings gave them away) which did not see action in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In truth Sputnik used a modified R-7 called "Sputnik" and Vostok I used the Vostok launch vehicle, other than that The Right Stuff is a really great film.

[ColKlonk]

Grissom was never happy about the apollo capsules, so i think they portrayed him badly here as he was a 'whistleblower'.

Grissom was the most popular/best of all the astronauts/pilots, and first choice, before Armstrong.. but he was too vocal (the Lemon) for Nasa's likings. These guys were professional military pilots... only the bravest stand up to their allies!!

Edited May 17, 2016 by ColKlonk