i asked pete conrad once if was nervous on the surfa of the moon. again, not unlike theuestion you aedbuzz, knowing th if s engine didn't light wasn't coming home. and he said ", i was a happy guy on the surface of t moon." he said "i thought about th the rst time i wasn earth orbit and if my einehadn't lit i'de just as randed and just as de it only see worse if i'mon the move." >> rose: what we the pla if the engines didn't work? >>hey would quiey expir >> ros quietly? >> well, quietly expired. i wod imagine these m would have gone up to theoment of death with theame kind of self-containment and dignity with which.. >> rose: b was there any plan of c i get back we'll give you this pill to go to sleep? no, andt's fun you should say that because i opened "apollo" 13,he book jim and i collaborated oon the book "lost moon"which became "apollo " opened the book with just that question. the idea of poison pills itas a veryommon rumor. the poison pills d not exi. and jim kindf laughed when i asked him and said "if you want to die in spac, you could do it

i asked pete conrad once if he was nervous on the surface of the moon. again, not unlike the question you asked buzz, knowing that if his engine didn't light he wasn't coming home. and he said "no, i was a happy guy on the surface of the moon." he said "i thought about that the first time i was in earth orbit and if my engine hadn't lit i'd be just as stranded and just as dead it only seems worse if i'm on the move." >> rose: what were the plans if the engines didn't work? >> they would quietly expire. >> rose: quietly? >> well, quietly expired. i would imagine these men would have gone up to the moment of death with the same kind of self-containment and dignity with which.... >> rose: but was there any plan of can i get back so we'll give you this pill to go to sleep? >> no, and it's funny you should say that because i opened "apollo" 13, the book jim and i collaborated on on the book "lost moon" which became "apollo 13" opened the book with just that question. the idea of poison pills. it was a very common rumor. the poison pills did not exist. and jim

>> the rotation came up, if "apollo 1 hadn't worked pete conrad would have beenhe first man onhe moon. if "apollo 12" hadn't worked, al shepherd would have bee first and he and "apollo 13 13-" lar switch becausehepherd needed more traing time. so whoever was next in le would haveeen the first. >> rose: is the one first amonequals? >> i asked chris craft that. if you ask me i would sayim lovell. i'm biased. jim and have woed together. >>ose: "apollo 13" "gemini 7." >> rose: tom hanks. >> exactly. jim wasnd still is a fantaic rudder and sck man. frank boorman, comnder of "apollo 8" was considered a true geni in terms of his natural feel. heas a caion astronaut but a terrifically adept o. but chricraft, when i asked him that question, said "who is t best pure pilot whover flew under your xand?" and he said "i'm not trying to give you theappropriate answer. i alwaysaid theest crew that's fing is the best th's... that's ever flown is the one that's currently flying becausthey have built on the achievements of every other crew before tm and the next one will be bter than th are. >> rose: so

pete conrad and i were in there. disappointed, and then when jim and i came around, i was selected. so i feel happy. i think i had a very fine career coming out of the depression and the conditions i was then to where i am now. >>

backpack on, before you get dressed to go outside and and if i move over here that i could have had pete conrad who was his commander, could and handed me my backpack and put it on and i would have handed his his backpack. the one of the lunar module to go at first it would have been absolutely no problem to do it so long holding of the technical issue interior layout of the lamb was used and is still in use as a description. neil himself and i finally get to answer you're direct question, neil beliefs that if the commander going aphorist did not make the best sense technically then why did they use it every time they landed and the commander like alan shepard that wasn't the right way to do it. a shepherd would have made sure it got done in a different way. i am a stand his point of view about that and there is a logic to a but at the same time i think after the president was said that the commander was going out first with apollo love and. then to me that president was going to be followed throughout the entire program so it is a tricky bit of his history there. and to know also and have a do

my favorite was apollo 12 because i got to be close friends with pete conrad and al, whose paintings library, an, of course, apollo 11, which was the first landsing on the moon. most people, however, don't know that much about what we're going to talk about tonight, apollo 8. in the apollo program there was a very carefully laid out sequence of events of test flights, each step taking us closer and closer to the moon. and each step had a set of parameters and a set of goals that were to be attained, and then we would move on to the next flight. during the middle 1960's, and coming up to the middle of 1968, there were some problems that developed. the moon lunar modules they were called were running behind in schedules. so the flight that these guys were on was intended to be something totally different. it was going to be a full-up test flight of all the equipment that was going to be used on the apollo flights, but it would be here in earth's orbit. and if you recall in those days you were never a few hours from safety if anything went wrong. but a decision was made and then held ve