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Normally astronaut training takes about one full year,

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and it includes such subjects as

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astronomy,

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astrophysics,

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flight physiology,

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orbital trajectories,

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or orbital management.

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Another part of the astronaut basic training is survival training.

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In the days of Gemini,

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you never knew for sure where a spacecraft might land

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if there was an emergency, deorbit.

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So, we had to take desert training,

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water training,

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and jungle survival training.

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So, we had to learn how to cook and eat snake

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and all other, such other good things as that,

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and how to make water in a desert.

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After that year and a half of astronaut basic training,

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our names were all put on a list

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and that list was quite a bit longer at that time

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then there were seats available.

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And so, we were all given other duties

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to keep us occupied

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and to help continue our training.

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Five of us were assigned to the lunar module,

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and our job was to be with these lunar modules

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as they were being built.

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So, we spent a lot of time there.

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I must admit that probably I had more time

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sleeping on the floor of Lunar Module #6

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than the crew who flew it on the moon.

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Well, my next job was to be on the support crew of Apollo 8,

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and Apollo 8 was the spacecraft that flew to the moon

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and came back but did not land.

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When they went behind the moon,

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they were supposed to do a thrusting maneuver

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to slow them down

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so they would be captured into lunar orbit.

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So we just had to sit and cool our heels

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when they went behind the moon,

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and we knew if they came out a little early on the other side,

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that they had not burned enough,

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not slowed down enough,

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and were going to skip out into space,

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they wouldn't be captured in orbit.

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If they came out a little bit late,

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it meant they had over-done it,

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and they weren't going to be in orbit,

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but were going to begin a spiral down to the lunar surface.

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And, of course, without a lunar module,

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that kind of ruins your whole day.

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You can imagine how relieved we were

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at the instant that they were supposed

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to appear on the other side of the moon

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that they appeared!

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My next assignment was again a support crew assignment on Apollo 12,

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and Apollo 12 was struck by lightning

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on its way off the pad.

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A nearby thunderstorm,

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there was a lightning bolt that went over

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and hit the very tip of the spacecraft.

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The charge went down through the spacecraft,

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through the booster,

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down the exhaust gases,

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and grounded out on the launching pad.

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It killed the electrical power system

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and the computers all died.

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You can imagine what it must have been like

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for them inside because suddenly the lights all went out

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and then they came back on

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when the batteries picked up the load.

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And, every single warning light and caution light

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in the spacecraft was on and flashing,

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and all the necessary bells, whistles, and buzzards

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and things that are in there,

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all were going off at the same time.

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The crew was totally confused

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as to what was going on.

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When we were settled in orbit,

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we tested all the various systems

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and everything looked good.

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So, that, now I figured this is it,

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and sure enough, I did get an assignment,

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a flight assignment.

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I was assigned to the back-up crew of Apollo 16,

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which meant that I was to be on the param crew of Apollo 19.

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And, several weeks into the training,

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NASA made the surprise announcment

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that they were going to cancel Apollos 18, 19, and 20.

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We were in the middle of the Vietnam War,

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the budget was in bad shape,

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so you can imagine there were three

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very, very sad hangdog guys moping around the office

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because we lost our flight to the moon.

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But, several weeks later, I got a call from Tom Stafford,

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the Senior Astronaut at that time,

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and he wanted me in his office,

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and I went in,

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and he told me that he was sorry

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that I had missed my opportunity for the moon,

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but he said, "I've got another assignment for you."

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He said, "I want you to be the commander

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of the third and final Skylab mission."

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And, he said, "Do you think you could do the job?"

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And I said, "Of course, yes!"

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And, I'll have to admit,

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a certain lump in my chest and in my stomach,

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because I was a rookie,

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and they normally don't assign a rookie to be a commander,

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usually you have to have at least one flight under your belt,

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but they assigned me to that,

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which was really kind of a shock

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because the last rookie commander was Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8.