[X] My Assistant

[ilbasso]

I have just been watching an interesting video of a gathering of astronauts. On May 8, 1997, Wally Schirra, Jim Lovell, Alan Shepard, Gene Cernan, and Neil Armstrong gathered to make an historic public appearance at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, emceed by Roy Neal.

In reflecting back on his near-disasterous EVA on Gemini IX, Cernan had this interesting comment on what might have been:

Cernan: "Tom Stafford told me that had the Gemini IX accident not occurred, and had the Russian program accelerated to the point that they might orbit the Moon, it was possible that Gemini XII could have jumped on top of an Agena with a little extra boost, and they would have shot us around the Moon back in 1966. Now, I’m sort of glad things happened the way they did in retrospect, but that really would have been an eye-opener at the time. I’m not sure we could have pulled that one off."

Roy Neal: "Alan [Shepard], you were very instrumental in running the Astronaut office at that time. Can you confirm or deny the report that Cernan has just given us about Gemini XII?"

Shepard: (laughs) "Actually, I would have no comment on that." (laughs) "If you think it’s hard to say ‘no comment,’ it is difficult!"

I find this hard to believe! Would the Gemini heatshield have stood up to a 25,000 mph re-entry?