Editing Apollo 10 (section)

=== Crew and key Mission Control personnel ===
{{Spaceflight crew
|terminology      = Astronaut
|position1        = Commander (CDR)
|crew1_up         = [[Thomas P. Stafford]]
|flights1_up      = Third
|position2        = Command Module Pilot (CMP)
|crew2_up         = [[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]]
|flights2_up      = Third
|position3        = Lunar Module Pilot (LMP)
|crew3_up         = [[Gene Cernan]]
|flights3_up      = Second
}}

On November 13, 1968, NASA announced the crew members of Apollo 10.<ref name="drew" /> Thomas P. Stafford, the commander, was 38 years old at the time of the mission. A 1952 graduate of the [[United States Naval Academy|Naval Academy]], he was commissioned in the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]]. Selected for the [[NASA Astronaut Group 2|second group of astronauts]] in 1962, he flew as pilot of [[Gemini 6A]] (1965) and command pilot of [[Gemini 9A]] (1966).<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2014 |title=Thomas P. Stafford, Lieutenant General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) NASA astronaut (former) |url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/stafford_thomas.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/stafford_thomas.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |publisher=[[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center]]}}</ref> John Young, the command module pilot, was 38 years old and a [[Commander (United States)#Naval|commander]] in the [[United States Navy|Navy]] at the time of Apollo 10. A 1952 graduate of [[Georgia Tech]] who entered the Navy after graduation and became a test pilot in 1959, he was selected as a Group 2 astronaut alongside Stafford. He flew in [[Gemini 3]] with [[Gus Grissom]] in 1965, becoming the first American not of the [[Mercury Seven]] to fly in space. Young thereafter commanded [[Gemini 10]] (1966), flying with [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]].{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|p=471}}{{sfn|Press Kit|pp=69–70}} Gene Cernan, the lunar module pilot, was a {{nowrap|35-year-old}} commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 10. A 1952 graduate of [[Purdue University]], he entered the Navy after graduation. Selected for the [[NASA Astronaut Group 3|third group of astronauts]] in 1963, Cernan flew with Stafford on Gemini 9A before his assignment to Apollo 10.{{sfn|Press Kit|pp=71–72}} With five prior flights among them, the Apollo 10 crew was the most experienced to reach space until the [[Space Shuttle]] era,{{sfn|Stafford & Cassutt|p=545}} and the first American space mission whose crew were all spaceflight veterans.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|p=279}}

The backup crew for Apollo 10 was [[Gordon Cooper]] as commander, [[Donn F. Eisele]] as command module pilot, and [[Edgar Mitchell|Edgar D. Mitchell]] as lunar module pilot. By the normal crew rotation in place during Apollo, Cooper, Eisele, and Mitchell would have flown on [[Apollo 13]],{{efn|The role of the backup crew was to train and be prepared to fly in the event something happened to the prime crew.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 30, 2019 |title=50 years ago, NASA names Apollo 11 crew |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-nasa-names-apollo-11-crew |access-date=February 24, 2023 |publisher=NASA}}</ref> Backup crews, according to the rotation, were assigned as the prime crew three missions after their assignment of backups.}} but Cooper and Eisele never flew again. [[Deke Slayton]], Director of Flight Crew Operations, felt that Cooper did not train as hard as he could have. Eisele was blackballed because of incidents during Apollo 7, which he had flown as CMP and which had seen conflict between the crew and ground controllers; he had also been involved in a messy divorce. Slayton only assigned the two as backups because he had few veteran astronauts available.{{sfn|Slayton & Cassutt|p=236}} Cooper and Eisele were replaced by [[Alan Shepard]] and [[Stuart Roosa]] respectively. Feeling they needed additional training time, [[George Mueller (NASA)|George Mueller]] rejected the Apollo 13 crew. The crew was switched to [[Apollo 14]], which saw Shepard and Mitchell walk on the Moon.{{sfn|Slayton & Cassutt|p=236}}

For projects [[Project Mercury|Mercury]] and [[Project Gemini|Gemini]], a prime and a backup crew had been designated, but for Apollo, a third group of astronauts, known as the support crew, was also designated. Slayton created the support crews early in the Apollo program on the advice of McDivitt, who would lead Apollo 9. McDivitt believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the U.S., meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander.{{sfn|Slayton & Cassutt|p=184}} Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, [[flight plan]], and checklists, and kept them updated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hersch |first=Matthew |date=July 19, 2009 |title=The fourth crewmember |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-fourth-crewmember-37046329/ |journal=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]] |access-date=October 4, 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Brooks|p=261}} For Apollo 10, they were [[Joe Engle]], [[James Irwin]], and [[Charles Duke]].{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|p=256}}

[[Flight controller#Flight director|Flight directors]] were [[Gerry Griffin]], [[Glynn Lunney]], [[Milt Windler]], and [[Pete Frank]].{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|p=236}} Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description: "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Mike |date=September 13, 2012 |title=A legendary tale, well-told |url=https://news.rice.edu/2012/09/13/a-legendary-tale-well-told/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817125432/https://news.rice.edu/2012/09/13/a-legendary-tale-well-told/ |archive-date=August 17, 2020 |access-date=October 5, 2019 |publisher=[[Rice University]] Office of Public Affairs}}</ref> [[Flight controller#CAPCOM|CAPCOMs]] were Duke, Engle, [[Jack Lousma]], and [[Bruce McCandless II]].{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|p=256}}