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Nobody is universally liked, and I can see trying the practical joke route since its a pretty big part of the culture (recently watched a Navy video having to d

Nobody is universally liked, and I can see trying the practical joke route since its a pretty big part of the culture (recently watched a Navy video having to do with dropping greased pigs on another ship). The tension between services (Navy and Army Air Force / Air Force) is well documented along with tension with the civilian pilots. There is a bit of family problem going on with Yeager and his kids which is generating some bad press. Cannot find my copy of the book, but the mission Armstrong did the piloting was Gemini 8.

justin66 10y ago
Ah, that's an interesting mission, and it's nice to know that Yeager supported his flying on that. There was some armchair quarterbacking of how Armstrong handled that, as you may know, by some of the lesser known astronauts. It was pretty much the most dangerous situation an American astronaut ever encountered in orbit that required specialized piloting skills and very quick reactions to survive. A couple of other pilots thought he used too much fuel solving the problem, which resulted in him having to abort and reenter right away. The NASA leadership thought he did well enough that he was qualified to command an Apollo mission likely to land on the moon...
- protomyth 10y ago
  If I remember the passage correctly (It has been over a decade), he used it as an example of how important it was to have actual skilled, trained pilots in the space program (basically taking pilots mattered). It was in the chapters about the X-15, I think. I would assume command of the first Moon landing would be taken as an endorsement of his solution and probably acknowledgement that on such a difficult mission he might need to solve a similar problem. Of course, I have read interviews where he called Armstrong a better engineer than pilot, but I get the feeling that Air Force does not complement Navy unless making a point about the professions as a whole.

justin66 10y ago

Ah, that's an interesting mission, and it's nice to know that Yeager supported his flying on that. There was some armchair quarterbacking of how Armstrong handled that, as you may know, by some of the lesser known astronauts. It was pretty much the most dangerous situation an American astronaut ever encountered in orbit that required specialized piloting skills and very quick reactions to survive. A couple of other pilots thought he used too much fuel solving the problem, which resulted in him having to abort and reenter right away. The NASA leadership thought he did well enough that he was qualified to command an Apollo mission likely to land on the moon...

protomyth 10y ago
If I remember the passage correctly (It has been over a decade), he used it as an example of how important it was to have actual skilled, trained pilots in the space program (basically taking pilots mattered). It was in the chapters about the X-15, I think. I would assume command of the first Moon landing would be taken as an endorsement of his solution and probably acknowledgement that on such a difficult mission he might need to solve a similar problem. Of course, I have read interviews where he called Armstrong a better engineer than pilot, but I get the feeling that Air Force does not complement Navy unless making a point about the professions as a whole.