Handwritten notes by Cooper in pencil, unsigned, on two lightly-lined 8 x 10.5 sheets, dated June 25, 1969, describing how he was removed from consideration for an Apollo flight. In part: “Slayton told me that I would not get Apollo 13…He told me that he had no doubt in my ability to fly a mission or to train for a mission, but that I had not shown enough initiative in training in back up on Apollo 10. He used my lesser amount of simulator time as an excuse…and on the other hand he put in Al Shepard, who has not had any Gemini simulator exp, no flt exp, no rdg exp, no Apollo sim time until last 3 months, and no helo time, and feels that with luck he can be ready to go in March. The entire deal is obviously a cleverly planned scheme by Al and Deke is so mentally disturbed that he has gone along with it. ‘We owe Al a flt’ says Deke and this was about the only way we could slide him in…Then Deke proceeded to tell me that he would like for me to take over AAP if I wanted it…and be his assistant to head up advanced Apollo lunar exploration (Apollo 15-20), the Space Shuttle, and space stations.” In fine condition. Cooper was selected as the Apollo 10 back-up commander, and originally assigned to command the Apollo 13 mission. After this falling out with NASA management, Cooper retired from NASA in July of 1970, claiming that Shepard and Slayton were manipulating crew assignments in order to improve their own chances of grabbing a hotly contested assignment. Pre-certified Steve Zarelli.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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