Tag: Bob Gilruth

Posted on

THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 19: Third Inning – Who’s on First?

The third inning started, and Lucas’ list of questions increased with every pitch.  

“Who decided which astronauts were to carry out the secondary protocol missions?”  

“One simple directive guided the selection process: they had to be the ones most likely to keep their mouths shut,” said Armstrong. “Military background was preferred although in my case it was more of a psychological profile thing.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“In August 1968 George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, had a secret meeting with Bob Gilruth, head of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Chris Kraft, Director of Flight Operations, and Deke Slayton, who as NASA’s Flight Crew Director was the person tasked with making crew assignments. They were Apollo program’s four senior administrators, and by that time had become an unofficial committee that got together often in Gilruth’s office to discuss and make decisions on the future of the program. Not much happened that didn’t originate with them.

“Well, in that August meeting Low convinced the group that the only way to meet Kennedy’s goal was to send Apollo 8 around the Moon on December of that year. It was a Hail Mary pass that would allow NASA to fulfill in one mission many of the program objectives needed to land on the Moon.

“That meant reshuffling the other missions and the crew assignments. The original Apollo 8 mission became Apollo 9 and in the process Buzz, Michael and me, instead of being back-up crew of Apollo 9 became back-up for Apollo 8. Something that meant that our place in the rotation suddenly had us in line for the prime crew of Apollo 11, which was, at the time, scheduled to be the first G-type mission. In other words, the first Moon landing mission.

“At the time I thought that such a realignment of missions had been simply a lucky break for us, but I found out shortly thereafter, that I had been chosen not to be the first man to actually land on the Moon but to be the commander of the mission with the secondary protocol to tell the world that we had landed on the Moon. Very big difference, believe me. And the reason I was selected for that was that Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Deke saw me as a person who did not have a large ego. Chris Kraft wrote about that in 2001 as part of his autobiography.”

“So, in June 6, 1968, LBJ gave the order to put the secondary protocol in motion,” said Lucas, “and in August, the Big Four laid out the whole plan. Right?”

“Pretty much. That Apollo 8’s crew, was the first to train for a secondary protocol. The crews of Apollo 7 and 9 were kept in the dark. Their missions were about testing the spacecrafts on Earth orbit and as such, were of little or no use to the overall plan.

“Only seven astronauts were aware of the whole secondary protocol: Commanders Frank Borman of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford of Apollo 10, Pete Conrad of Apollo 12, Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 and myself on Apollo 11. Nobody else was made aware of the whole plan; it was just us. As a matter of fact Lovell carried out two secondary protocol missions; the only astronaut to do so. We were all members of the New Nine group except for Shepard who, as you know, was one of the Mercury Seven; the first American to go into space way back in 1961.”  

“What about their crews? You said that the commanders would brief their crews only to the extent of their mission and did not include any information regarding the role of other missions. Didn’t they have questions? How was that handled?”  

“There was a total of 10 crew members involved in the secondary protocol missions; all were military men. They knew how to follow orders without questioning them. Plus there was always the ‘that’s classified’ response,” said Armstrong with a smirk. “Actually, two of them, Young and Cernan, did get to walk on the Moon in later missions. And a third one, Dick Gordon was in line to do the same in Apollo 18 until his mission was cancelled due to budget cuts. I’m sure they didn’t need much more motivation to keep their mouths shut.  

“All astronauts involved were given a lifetime mission that transcended the primary mission objectives. Our mission would not be completed until we have taken what we know to our graves. It’s a very heavy burden I’ve come to regard as unjust, not for me, but for the ones who were not given the credit they deserved. Look Lucas,  I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do in the context of the era, but we now live in a different world. It’s time for people to know the truth.”  

Over on the field

The third inning was a testament to the pitching duel in front of us that day with only one hit between the two teams and no runs scored. Reds still leading 1-0 after three.      

 

 

Please help keep the stories flowing…

Posted on

THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 21: Fifth Inning – Heads and Tales

NASA Administrator Thomas Paine in 1969

While on the playing field Reds pitcher Edison Volquez manhandled the Indians lineup on the top half of the fifth inning, Armstrong continued his tale.

“In October 1968, NASA Administrator James Webb who had been informed about the secondary protocol plan by the big four, Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Slayton, stepped down from his post,” said the old astronaut. “Although the official version for his resignation was that he wanted to give the next President space to name his own director, some say the decision was prompted by his strong opposition to the deception.

“He was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Paine who oversaw the Apollo 8 to 13 missions. It was rumored among the astronauts in the secondary protocol loop that Dr. Paine was not made aware of the plan when he took over. It became obvious later that, being an engineer, he had figured out the deception somewhere along the line and that was why he quit after the Apollo 13’s opera of a mission. I think something else was at play too.

“Dr. Paine had been in charge of acquiring the sentiments of world leaders for the Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages which were meant to rest on the lunar surface. He personally corresponded with the heads of what became seventy-three participating nations, and coordinated the efforts to enshrine their messages on a tiny silicon disc. By the way, it’s interesting to note that Lyndon B. Johnson’s message was written as if the Moon landing was a future event and not an accomplished feat. Something along the lines of: ‘We expect to explore the Moon… The purpose of the American people remains unchanged… and so on.’

“To this day I can’t figure out why he did that. It was too risky, but time proved him right I guess; nobody noticed anything fishy about that. Anyway, I digress. Going back to Paine, I think that, once he figured out the deception, he got really upset with NASA. It must have been frustrating to spend so much time in a purely cosmetic endeavor. One that amounted to nothing in the end. I’m sure he felt used. He resigned and left NASA a couple of months after the conclusion of the congressional review on the Apollo 13 mission.

“Then came Dr. George Low,” said Armstrong.

“The man historians deem responsible for saving the space program. Instrumental in the development of a safe Apollo spaceship after the Apollo 1 fire. And originator of the idea to turn Apollo 8’s mission into a circumlunar one,” said Lucas.

“Again, right on the money with your NASA history. The timing of his appointment and tenure are very revealing because he only oversaw the Apollo 14 mission. The chief savior of Kennedy’s dream was in fact the one in charge during the mission that accomplished the feat, albeit not within JFK’s timeframe. I don’t think that was a coincidence. Remember he had been one of the architects of the secondary protocol, a shady but program-saving initiative as well. So, his appointment at the time seemed like NASA’s way of showing him the appreciation he deserved. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There were seven other missions before Apollo 14.

“As I mentioned earlier, Apollo 7 had no secondary protocol. Their mission was to test the command module on Earth orbit. Apollo 8’s mission, on the other hand, was critical. Besides the political statement regarding the U.S. leadership position in the Space Race, it was meant to test whether communications from Moon orbit could be distinguished from the ones coming from its surface. Something that the Soviet Lund-5 prank had already proved  impossible. Regardless, NASA believed they had a game-changer for that approach.

“They tested the ability to use the Surveyors’ communication equipment as relay stations between the Apollo command module and mission control on Earth. They also tested the already obsolete “Moon bounce” technique which was developed in the late 40’s and which entailed reflecting a radio signal from the surface of the Moon. It turned out these were not their only options.

“The game-changer was the unified S-band transponder General Dynamics had been developing for the Apollo spacecraft. One of its functions was to provide the link for the surface of the Moon broadcast. But the most interesting aspect of this was that this piece of equipment served as a communication relay station between the astronauts and mission control. After all the tests performed by Apollo 8, the unified S-band transponder approach became plan A for the secondary protocol deceptive communication with Earth. They kept using the Surveyors’ communication systems as back-up plan which is why the Apollo landing sites matched the Surveyors’ locations.

But before that, Apollo 9 had to render a verdict.

On the field…

Things got worse for the Indians on the bottom half of the fifth inning. The Reds increased their lead to 4-1 thanks to RBi singles by Ken Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips.        

 

 

 

Please help keep the stories flowing…