Moon landing conspiracy theories MOL pilot Robert Lawrence, had no connection with the civilian manned space program that oversaw the Apollo missions. All of the deaths listed besides Welch occurred at least 20 months "before" Apollo 11 and subsequent flights. , four of the twelve Apollo astronauts who landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972 are still alive, including Buzz Aldrin. Also, nine of the twelve Apollo astronauts who flew to the Moon without landing between 1968 and 1972 are still alive, including Michael Collins. The number of deaths within the American astronaut corps during the run-up to Apollo and during the Apollo
Neil Armstrong pilot, unofficially the lowest ranked member, and Armstrong could not justify placing Lovell, the commander of Gemini 12, in the number 3 position of the crew. The crew of Apollo 11 was officially announced on January 9, 1969, as Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, with Lovell, Anders, and Fred Haise as the backup crew. According to Chris Kraft, a March 1969 meeting among Slayton, George Low, Bob Gilruth, and Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon, in part because NASA management saw him as a person who did not have a large ego. A press conference