Neil Armstrong December 23, 1968, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Commander Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, he was offering Armstrong the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the lunar module
Buzz Aldrin after two hours and six minutes. A third, 55-minute standup EVA was conducted on November 14, during which Aldrin took photographs, conducted experiments, and discarded some unneeded items. On November 15, the crew initiated the automatic reentry system and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, from whence they were picked up by a helicopter which took them to the awaiting aircraft carrier . After the mission, his wife realized he had fallen into a depression, something she had not seen before. Lovell and Aldrin were assigned to an Apollo crew with Neil Armstrong as Commander, Lovell as Command Module Pilot