0:00:14.752,0:00:17.834
Normally astronaut training takes about one full year,

0:00:17.834,0:00:20.023
and it includes such subjects as

0:00:20.023,0:00:21.005
astronomy,

0:00:21.005,0:00:21.992
astrophysics,

0:00:21.992,0:00:23.298
flight physiology,

0:00:23.298,0:00:24.968
orbital trajectories,

0:00:24.968,0:00:26.487
or orbital management.

0:00:26.487,0:00:30.764
Another part of the astronaut basic training is survival training.

0:00:30.764,0:00:31.855
In the days of Gemini,

0:00:31.855,0:00:34.769
you never knew for sure where a spacecraft might land

0:00:34.769,0:00:37.439
if there was an emergency, deorbit.

0:00:37.439,0:00:40.159
So, we had to take desert training,

0:00:40.159,0:00:41.149
water training,

0:00:41.149,0:00:44.195
and jungle survival training.

0:00:44.195,0:00:46.080
So, we had to learn how to cook and eat snake

0:00:46.080,0:00:48.366
and all other, such other good things as that,

0:00:48.366,0:00:50.244
and how to make water in a desert.

0:00:50.244,0:00:52.952
After that year and a half of astronaut basic training,

0:00:52.952,0:00:54.664
our names were all put on a list

0:00:54.664,0:00:57.333
and that list was quite a bit longer at that time

0:00:57.333,0:00:58.658
then there were seats available.

0:00:58.658,0:01:01.378
And so, we were all given other duties

0:01:01.378,0:01:03.589
to keep us occupied

0:01:03.589,0:01:06.264
and to help continue our training.

0:01:06.264,0:01:08.843
Five of us were assigned to the lunar module,

0:01:08.843,0:01:13.188
and our job was to be with these lunar modules

0:01:13.188,0:01:15.184
as they were being built.

0:01:15.184,0:01:17.059
So, we spent a lot of time there.

0:01:17.059,0:01:19.852
I must admit that probably I had more time

0:01:19.852,0:01:22.293
sleeping on the floor of Lunar Module #6

0:01:22.293,0:01:24.631
than the crew who flew it on the moon.

0:01:24.631,0:01:28.532
Well, my next job was to be on the support crew of Apollo 8,

0:01:28.532,0:01:31.249
and Apollo 8 was the spacecraft that flew to the moon

0:01:31.249,0:01:33.458
and came back but did not land.

0:01:33.458,0:01:35.205
When they went behind the moon,

0:01:35.205,0:01:37.289
they were supposed to do a thrusting maneuver

0:01:37.289,0:01:38.134
to slow them down

0:01:38.134,0:01:40.792
so they would be captured into lunar orbit.

0:01:40.792,0:01:42.795
So we just had to sit and cool our heels

0:01:42.795,0:01:44.504
when they went behind the moon,

0:01:44.504,0:01:47.839
and we knew if they came out a little early on the other side,

0:01:47.839,0:01:51.268
that they had not burned enough,

0:01:51.268,0:01:52.352
not slowed down enough,

0:01:52.352,0:01:54.182
and were going to skip out into space,

0:01:54.182,0:01:55.806
they wouldn't be captured in orbit.

0:01:55.806,0:01:57.852
If they came out a little bit late,

0:01:57.852,0:01:59.521
it meant they had over-done it,

0:01:59.521,0:02:00.898
and they weren't going to be in orbit,

0:02:00.898,0:02:04.858
but were going to begin a spiral down to the lunar surface.

0:02:04.858,0:02:07.081
And, of course, without a lunar module,

0:02:07.081,0:02:09.452
that kind of ruins your whole day.

0:02:09.452,0:02:11.160
You can imagine how relieved we were

0:02:11.160,0:02:13.534
at the instant that they were supposed

0:02:13.534,0:02:15.900
to appear on the other side of the moon

0:02:15.900,0:02:17.242
that they appeared!

0:02:17.242,0:02:20.832
My next assignment was again a support crew assignment on Apollo 12,

0:02:20.832,0:02:23.335
and Apollo 12 was struck by lightning

0:02:23.335,0:02:25.126
on its way off the pad.

0:02:25.126,0:02:26.293
A nearby thunderstorm,

0:02:26.293,0:02:28.173
there was a lightning bolt that went over

0:02:28.173,0:02:30.594
and hit the very tip of the spacecraft.

0:02:30.594,0:02:33.263
The charge went down through the spacecraft,

0:02:33.263,0:02:34.318
through the booster,

0:02:34.318,0:02:35.895
down the exhaust gases,

0:02:35.895,0:02:38.774
and grounded out on the launching pad.

0:02:38.774,0:02:41.349
It killed the electrical power system

0:02:41.349,0:02:44.023
and the computers all died.

0:02:44.023,0:02:45.500
You can imagine what it must have been like

0:02:45.500,0:02:48.450
for them inside because suddenly the lights all went out

0:02:48.450,0:02:49.464
and then they came back on

0:02:49.464,0:02:51.343
when the batteries picked up the load.

0:02:51.343,0:02:53.699
And, every single warning light and caution light

0:02:53.699,0:02:56.044
in the spacecraft was on and flashing,

0:02:56.044,0:02:58.871
and all the necessary bells, whistles, and buzzards

0:02:58.871,0:03:00.396
and things that are in there,

0:03:00.396,0:03:02.422
all were going off at the same time.

0:03:02.422,0:03:03.877
The crew was totally confused

0:03:03.877,0:03:05.419
as to what was going on.

0:03:05.419,0:03:06.671
When we were settled in orbit,

0:03:06.671,0:03:10.172
we tested all the various systems

0:03:10.172,0:03:11.550
and everything looked good.

0:03:11.550,0:03:13.299
So, that, now I figured this is it,

0:03:13.299,0:03:15.763
and sure enough, I did get an assignment,

0:03:15.763,0:03:16.729
a flight assignment.

0:03:16.729,0:03:20.436
I was assigned to the back-up crew of Apollo 16,

0:03:20.436,0:03:23.991
which meant that I was to be on the param crew of Apollo 19.

0:03:23.991,0:03:26.530
And, several weeks into the training,

0:03:26.530,0:03:27.996
NASA made the surprise announcment

0:03:27.996,0:03:31.946
that they were going to cancel Apollos 18, 19, and 20.

0:03:31.946,0:03:33.281
We were in the middle of the Vietnam War,

0:03:33.281,0:03:34.991
the budget was in bad shape,

0:03:34.991,0:03:36.950
so you can imagine there were three

0:03:36.950,0:03:40.245
very, very sad hangdog guys moping around the office

0:03:40.245,0:03:42.895
because we lost our flight to the moon.

0:03:42.895,0:03:47.544
But, several weeks later, I got a call from Tom Stafford,

0:03:47.544,0:03:49.878
the Senior Astronaut at that time,

0:03:49.878,0:03:52.383
and he wanted me in his office,

0:03:52.383,0:03:52.921
and I went in,

0:03:52.921,0:03:54.533
and he told me that he was sorry

0:03:54.533,0:03:57.012
that I had missed my opportunity for the moon,

0:03:57.012,0:03:59.556
but he said, "I've got another assignment for you."

0:03:59.556,0:04:01.814
He said, "I want you to be the commander

0:04:01.814,0:04:05.999
of the third and final Skylab mission."

0:04:05.999,0:04:08.365
And, he said, "Do you think you could do the job?"

0:04:08.365,0:04:09.861
And I said, "Of course, yes!"

0:04:09.861,0:04:10.789
And, I'll have to admit,

0:04:10.789,0:04:15.365
a certain lump in my chest and in my stomach,

0:04:15.365,0:04:16.406
because I was a rookie,

0:04:16.406,0:04:19.734
and they normally don't assign a rookie to be a commander,

0:04:19.734,0:04:22.454
usually you have to have at least one flight under your belt,

0:04:22.454,0:04:24.296
but they assigned me to that,

0:04:24.296,0:04:26.043
which was really kind of a shock

0:04:26.043,0:04:32.888
because the last rookie commander was Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8.