Apollo 9 in early 1969. However, LM problems again prevented it from being ready for the D mission by December, so NASA officials created another mission for Apollo 8 using the Saturn V to launch only the CSM on the first crewed flight to orbit the Moon, and the E mission was cancelled as unnecessary. Slayton asked McDivitt and Borman which mission they preferred to fly; McDivitt wanted to fly the LM, while Borman volunteered for the pioneering lunar flight. Therefore, Slayton swapped the crews, and McDivitt's crew flew Apollo 9. The crew swap also affected who would be the first crew
Apollo 15 operations on the Lunar surface kg) of oxygen had been lost. About half of the total amount was reserve. Scott and Irwin would state in the post-flight Technical Debrief that Mission Control should have awakened them as soon as the leak was detected. Once they were awake, it was decided to start their preparations for the first lunar EVA of their mission. As with everything in Apollo, it was an involved procedure. Not only did they have to prepare "Falcon", but had to don their space suits. "Apollo 15" was the first crew that got to sleep in long johns rather than having to stay