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
Apollo 8 CMP, and Buzz Aldrin as LMP for the third crewed Apollo flight was officially announced at the same time as the prime crew. When Lovell was reassigned to the prime crew, Aldrin was moved to CMP, and Fred Haise was brought in as backup LMP. Armstrong would later command Apollo 11, with Aldrin as LMP and Collins as CMP. Haise served on the backup crew of Apollo 11 as LMP and flew on Apollo 13 as LMP. During Projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts was added,