The history of spaceflight has seen its share of controversial astronauts who were reprimanded, criticized, or embroiled in scandal. Several high-profile cases damaged reputations and ended careers. This article reviews some high profile cases.
The Apollo 15 astronauts – David Scott, James Irwin, and Alfred Worden – smuggled unauthorized postal covers to the Moon in 1971. They had arranged for a German stamp dealer to make 100 commemorative postal covers, which they secretly took to the lunar surface. This violated rules about taking personal items to the Moon, and also raised questions about commercialization of the US space program. After their return, it emerged that they had planned to sell the covers at a profit. All three were barred from flying in space again.
Neil Armstrong’s famous “one small step” quote during the first Moon landing may have been planned in advance rather than being spontaneous. Armstrong had always maintained he thought of the historic words after landing on the Moon, but his brother Dean claimed in 2012 that Neil had shown him a written draft of the quote months earlier during a late night game of Risk at home. Armstrong never publicly confirmed or denied this account.
Scott Carpenter faced heavy criticism from NASA management about his performance during the 1962 Mercury-Atlas 7 mission. There were errors in piloting the Aurora 7 capsule and breaking mission rules, resulting in the spacecraft splashing down 250 miles off course. Questions were raised about Carpenter’s competence and judgment. He never flew in space again.
Gus Grissom lost a Mercury capsule, Liberty Bell 7, after splashdown when its hatch explosively blew for unknown reasons. He was rescued safely but the capsule sank. Fellow astronauts criticized Grissom despite his denials that he had accidentally hit the hatch detonator.
The Skylab 4 astronauts incurred controversy in 1974 when they photographed the top-secret Groom Lake test facility from orbit against orders. All three – Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue – were reprimanded, and the incident caused tension between NASA and intelligence agencies.
Buzz Aldrin struggled with depression and alcoholism after leaving NASA, and was embroiled in some controversial media interviews. Clips of him speaking about the Moon landings have been taken out of context by conspiracy theorists to supposedly “admit” the landings were faked. Aldrin has worked extensively to refute the conspiracies.
There have also been astronauts involved in more personal scandals related to things like divorce and extramarital affairs. Some had to fight to keep flying during an era when such matters were seen as career-ending security risks. Bill Anders of Apollo 8 fame acknowledged, “All of us… all had marriage problems. It was part of the sacrifice we all made.”
While most astronauts upheld NASA’s image of heroes with the “right stuff”, a small number damaged their reputations via controversy. These incidents highlight how spaceflight pushes humans and technology into risky, unknown territory. Accidents or errors of human judgment are inevitable – but fortunately did not stop the overall success of efforts like Project Apollo. The ability to learn from setbacks has remained central to the space program.
