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Tom Kelly :
Unfortunately, moving LEM 3 to
the Cape
did little to ease the pressure we were
under.
Jim McDivitt :
Tom, there's still at least a hundred things
wrong with it.
Tom Kelly :
We'll get it fixed in time.
Jim McDivitt :
No, you won't. There is no way in three
months that thing is gonna be ready to fly.
Tom Kelly :
Look, Jim, it's--It's a good machine. Just
needs a little fine-tuning. That's all.
Jim McDivitt :
You don't have to whisper, Tom. It can't
hear you. Look, I want it to go up as much
as you do. I know we're running out of time.
It's 18 months to the end of the decade and
we still haven't had a single manned Apollo
flight. I know that. But that doesn't change
the facts. LEM 3 is not ready to fly. And it
won't be any time soon. That's gonna have to
be my recommendation to headquarters.
Man : Now,
with the LEM 3 not ready to fly after Wally
and the 7 crew go up with the C.S.M. in
October that means there won't be another
Apollo flight until the spring, right?
Jim McDivitt :
Right.
Man : Well,
maybe not. George has come up with a rather
wild idea.
Jim McDivitt :
How wild?
Man : Frank's
mission is being scrubbed.
We've created a new C-Prime mission which
will precede your mission.
Jim McDivitt :
What's the mission?
Man : Well,
we're gonna send the command and
service module--
no lunar module--on a flight around the moon
in December.
Jim McDivitt :
Really? What's Frank think about it?
Man : I
haven't talked to Frank yet. I'm talking to
you first. I don't want to lose your crew's
experience with LEM 3. That's why we decided
to send Frank on this mission ahead of you.
But I wanted to see what you had to say
about it before I told Frank.
Jim McDivitt :
I told him we'd stick with the mission we
got.
Rusty Schweickart : Good. Going around the moon
sounds like a
blast and all but I really
wanna fly the LEM.
Jim McDivitt :
That's pretty much what Dave said. I called
him in Downey. He said he really wanted to
fly the command module solo--get us
out of his hair
for a few hours. I don't know though. Maybe
we're making a mistake. Maybe we're missing out
on some historical voyage.
Rusty Schweickart : I don't know, Jim. Maybe. But
it sounds like they're just gonna be
sightseeing. With all the things we gotta
do, our mission's fun.
Jim McDivitt : Yeah, we got a great mission.
Providing that thing will fly. |
