:26:01
While he and the rest of the group
were jockeying for seats...
:26:03
on lunar landing flights...
:26:04
I was assigned
to the Apollo Applications Program...
:26:07
the space station which came
to be known as Skylab.
:26:10
Pete called it "Tomorrowland."
:26:12
Planning things
so far in the future...
:26:14
who knew if they'd ever
become a reality or not.
:26:17
While I was tucked away
in some far-off corner...
:26:19
it seemed everyone else
was assigned mission after mission.
:26:22
I sort of felt
like the forgotten man.
:26:24
But I kept an eye
on what my peers were doing...
:26:27
all the guys I used to commiserate with
about not getting to fly.
:26:30
Walt Cunningham made the crew
of Apollo 7.
:26:34
Bill Anders, Apollo 8.
:26:36
Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9.
:26:38
That left just me.
:26:40
But there were others from our group
that were not so fortunate.
:26:47
Ted Freeman was flying his T-38
at a couple hundred miles per hour...
:26:50
when a goose smashed in
the Plexiglas of his cockpit.
:26:53
He was killed.
:26:56
Charlie Basset died along with
Elliot See...
:26:58
when Elliot crashed into a building
at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis.
:27:04
Roger Chaffee was on the crew
of Apollo 1...
:27:08
killed in the fire
with Gus Grissom and Ed White.
:27:11
Then there was C.C. Williams.
:27:13
He was supposed to be the original
lunar module pilot on Apollo 12...
:27:16
along with Pete and Dick.
:27:18
He had spent the night before
our astronaut physicals...
:27:21
jumping up and down
to compress his spine.
:27:24
There was a six-foot height limit,
and C.C. Was a shade over six feet even.
:27:28
He was a superb astronaut
who impressed everyone he met...
:27:33
but C.C. Was killed
when his T-38...
:27:35
went into a spin over the swamps
of Tallahassee.
:27:37
He had been cruising at 24,000 feet
when his controls locked...
:27:40
and the plane went
into a steep dive.
:27:43
He didn't have time to bail out.
:27:45
At that point, I wasn't even hoping
to fly Apollo anymore.
:27:48
It just hurt too much
to think about it.
:27:51
But I guess somebody
was looking out for me.
:27:53
Somebody named Pete Conrad.
:27:57
Al, you got a minute?