In applying to be part of the
third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott intended only a temporary detour from a mainstream military career; he expected to fly in space a couple of times and then return to the Air Force. He was accepted as one of the fourteen Group3 astronauts later that year. Scott's initial assignment was as an astronaut representative at MIT supervising the development of the
Apollo Guidance Computer. He spent most of 1964 and 1965 in residence in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as backup
CAPCOM during
Gemini 4 and as a CAPCOM during
Gemini 5.
Gemini 8 After the conclusion of
Gemini 5, Director of Flight Crew Operations
Deke Slayton informed Scott that he would fly with
Neil Armstrong on
Gemini 8. This made Scott the first Group3 astronaut to become a member of a prime crew, and this without having served on a backup crew. Scott was highly regarded by his colleagues for his piloting credentials; another Group3 astronaut,
Michael Collins, wrote later that Scott's selection to fly with Armstrong helped convince him that NASA knew what it was doing. (center) train for water egress. Scott found Armstrong something of a taskmaster, but the two men greatly respected each other and worked well together. They spent most of the seven months before launch in each other's company. One part of the training that Scott undertook without Armstrong was riding the
Vomit Comet, where he practiced in preparation for a planned
spacewalk. On March 16, 1966, Armstrong and Scott were launched into space, a flight originally planned to last three days. The
Agena rocket with which they were to dock had been launched an hour and forty minutes earlier. They carefully approached and docked with the Agena, the first docking ever accomplished in space. However, after the docking, there was unexpected movement by the joined craft. Mission Control was out of touch during this portion of the orbit, and the astronauts' belief that the Agena was causing the problem proved incorrect, for once they performed an emergency undocking, the spin only got worse. With the spacecraft spinning, there was a risk of the astronauts blacking out or the Gemini vehicle disintegrating. The problem was one of the craft's
Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS) thrusters firing unexpectedly; the crew shut down those thrusters, and Armstrong activated the
Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters to negate the spin. The RCS thrusters were to be used for reentry, and the mission rules said if they were activated early, Gemini8 had to return to Earth. Gemini8 splashed down in the
Western Pacific on the day of launch; the mission lasted only ten hours, and the early termination meant that Scott's spacewalk was scrubbed. According to
Francis French and
Colin Burgess in their book on NASA and the
Space Race, "Scott, in particular, had shown incredible presence of mind during the unexpected events of the Gemini8 mission. Even in the middle of an emergency, out of contact with Mission Control, he had thought to reenable ground control command of the Agena before the two vehicles separated." This allowed NASA to check the Agena from the ground, and use it for a subsequent Gemini mission. Scott's competence was recognized by NASA when, five days after the brief flight, he was assigned to an
Apollo crew. Along with Armstrong, Scott received the
NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Air Force awarded him the
Distinguished Flying Cross as well. He was also promoted to
lieutenant colonel.
Apollo 15 would be the first
J Mission, which emphasized scientific research, with longer stays on the Moon's surface and the use of the
Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Already having an interest in geology, Scott made time during the training for his crew to go on field trips with
Caltech geologist
Lee Silver. The scientists were divided over where Apollo15 should land; Scott's argument for the area of
Hadley Rille won the day. As time dwindled towards the launch date, Scott pushed to make the field trips more like what they would encounter on the lunar surface, with mock backpacks simulating what they would wear on the Moon, and from November 1970 onwards, the training version of the LRV. Apollo 15 launched from
Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on July 26, 1971. The outward flight to the Moon's orbit saw only minor difficulties, and the mission entered lunar orbit without incident. The descent to the Moon by the LM
Falcon, with Scott and Irwin aboard, took place on July 30, with Scott as commander attempting the landing. Following difficulties caused by the computer-controlled flight path being to the south of what was planned, Scott assumed manual control for the final descent, and successfully landed the
Falcon within the designated landing zone. After landing, Scott and Irwin donned the helmets and gloves of their pressure suits and Scott performed the first and only stand-up EVA on the lunar surface, by poking his head and upper body out of the docking port on top of the LM. He took panoramic photographs of the surrounding area from an elevated position and scouted the terrain they would be driving across the next day. The press release that announced the reprimands, dated July 11, 1972, stated that the astronauts' "actions will be given due consideration in their selection for future assignment", something that made it extremely unlikely that they would be selected to fly in space again.
Newsweek reported that "there are no forthcoming missions for which he [Scott] is being considered". Scott related in his autobiography that
Alan Shepard, then head of the
Astronaut Office, had offered him the choice between backing up Apollo17 or serving as a special assistant on the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint mission with the Soviet Union; Scott had chosen the latter. Although a NASA spokesman had stated that Scott had no choice but to leave the Astronaut Corps, and this was reproduced in the press, Slayton's supervisor,
Christopher C. Kraft, stated that the Public Affairs Office at NASA had erred, and the transfer was not a further rebuke.
NASA management In his role with Apollo-Soyuz, Scott traveled to
Moscow, leading a team of technical experts. There he met the commander of the Soviet part of the mission,
Alexei Leonov, with whom he would later write a joint autobiography. In 1973 Scott was offered the job of deputy director of NASA's
Dryden Flight Research Center, located at Edwards, a place Scott had long loved. This allowed Scott to fly aircraft that reached the edge of space, and let him renew his acquaintance with the retired Chuck Yeager who was there as a consulting test pilot, and to whom Scott granted flying privileges. On April 18, 1975, at age 42, Scott became the Center Director at Dryden. This was a civilian appointment, and to accept it, Scott retired from the Air Force in March 1975 with the rank of
colonel. Kraft wrote in his memoirs that Scott's appointment "pissed off Deke to his eyebrows". Scott found the work interesting and exciting, but with budget cuts and the forthcoming end of
Approach and Landing Tests for the
Space Shuttle, in 1977 he decided it was time to leave NASA and retired from the agency on September 30, 1977. ==Post-NASA career==