How did NASA decide who to land on the moon, and who stays in Lunar orbit?

[GundamF91]

After watching the new series about leaving Earth, I kept wondering how did NASA decide who to land on the moon, and who stays in Lunar orbit? This may not have been a "high technical" decision for NASA, they could've drawn lots. Or it could very well have been technical reason for picking the people.

I just know that if I was to go to the moon, I'd fight tooth and nail to actually land on the moon. What's the fun of going if you don't get to land there.

 

[CycloWizard]

I believe it was all decided by coin flips, though I haven't really read much about it in almost 20 years now. Man I'm getting old.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard
I believe it was all decided by coin flips, though I haven't really read much about it in almost 20 years now. Man I'm getting old.

I believe you are right, there was no real way to choose who was best suited as all of these guys where the best.

 

[GundamF91]

I don't know if the size and weight of the people went to the moon, but I'd imagine NASA would want to put the smaller guys in the lunar lander.

 

[rezinn]

I saw on discovery that they decided who would be the first to go into space by picking the smartest guy, who they thought had the best chance of fixing something if anything went wrong. I figure they had an idea who would be best suited for each task given that they knew the astronauts well. Even among a group of people like that, there are generally clear leaders.

 

[BassBomb]

I've always wondered why no one has gone again

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
I've always wondered why no one has gone again

Once you've planted a flag and brought back some rocks, there is little else worth doing on the moon, and even fewer activities which justify the cost and risk.

 

[wwswimming]

i wonder if it had anything to do with bowel movements. i've heard that
women living together in a house will get sync'ed on menstrual cycles,
but i don't know what happens with astronauts' digestive systems.

i would not want to be on the moon having to go.

 

[flyboy84]

I've always heard Neil Armstrong was an extremely calm and collected individual (he had experience with test flights gone wrong during his years as a test pilot) and was very well suited to "fly" the lunar lander. As it happened, they missed the designated LZ and he had to maneuver around rocky terrain to find another acceptable one with minutes (or even seconds?!?) of fuel to spare.

 

[lousydood]

15 seconds of fuel to spare.

 

[irishScott]

IIRC the requirements for the Astronaut corps itself were fairly strenuous (psychological profile and whatnot), but as for which astronauts got to go, IIRC it was just a coin toss.

 

[Brovane]

Each astronaut has specific specialties and were trained accordingly in specific specialties. The Commander and LMP (Lunar Module Pilot) got to land on the moon. The Command Module Pilot got to stay with the command module and orbit the moon. From what I read most of the guys where just happy to be on a Apollo mission. Each position was important.

 

[imprimis]

Originally posted by: Foxery

Originally posted by: BassBomb
I've always wondered why no one has gone again

Once you've planted a flag and brought back some rocks, there is little else worth doing on the moon, and even fewer activities which justify the cost and risk.

I'll politely disagree with you on this.
the unspoken reason for the next space race back to the moon: Helium-3
http://www.space.com/scienceas...my/helium3_000630.html

The equivalent of a single space shuttle load or roughly 25 tonscould supply the entire United States' energy needs for a year, accordingto Apollo17 astronaut and FTI researcher Harrison Schmitt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKp-BlOlYq8