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This is a NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project transcript of astronaut James A. McDivitt, interviewed by Doug Ward at Elk Lake, Michigan, on 29 June 1999. McDivitt talks about flying F-86s in Korea, test pilot work at Edwards, and his first class at the Aerospace Research Pilot School. He also covers turning down Dyna-soar, joining NASA in 1962 and learning to be an Apollo Program Manager. He describes the Change Board and says decisions were not second-guessed.
“Mission Control”9 pages
Johnson Space Center Oral History Project James A. McDivitt 29 June 1999 12-60 guy who used to come out and give us a hard time. I think he was probably gone before you got there. WARD: Jim Maloney. MCDIVITT: Maloney! Right. Maloney was giving us a hard time about the flagpole. And on Fridays we used to have press days. And one day—one time I was scheduled to have a interview with Mr. Maloney for a half hour. And so, I told the schedulers to make sure Maloney had a half hour at the end of his press conference with me. So, we went through the press conference, and I was watching my watch. And we finally got to the half-hour mark, and I said, “Okay, the—,” you know, “it’s over.” And we had a NASA PA [Public Affairs] guy there, and he said, “Yeah, the interview’s over, Jim.” And so—Jim Maloney. And so, we stopped and I said, “Do you want to get a cup of coffee or do you want to start the next one?” And he said, “Well, what next one?” I said, “Well, I’ve got you scheduled for an interview with me.” He said, “Well, what are you talking about?” I said, “But, Jim, you’re here interviewing us all the time. I have scheduled an interview between the two of us where I’m the questioner and you’re the—going to do the answering.” “Well, I—” I said, “Jim, it was scheduled. Now, do you want a cup of coffee or not?” “No, I don’t want a drink.” We sat down, so I said, “Okay, now why the hell are you going after us on the flagpole?” “Well, what do you mean? I—” So, we had a half hour press conference with Mr. Maloney. We were finally told that he had been instructed by his boss to just raise hell out there because he wasn’t—they weren’t getting something they wanted! So, anyway—I had good relationships with some guys than others. But quite frankly, when you get back to this, Should the press have known something about the problem with
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