Editing William Anders (section)

=== Selection and training ===
[[File:The Apollo 8 prime crew stands in foreground as the Apollo space vehicle.jpg|thumb|Anders (right) with fellow Apollo 8 crewmates [[Jim Lovell]] (center) and [[Frank Borman]] (left)]]

Anders now applied to the USAF [[Aerospace Research Pilots School]] (ARPS) for test pilot training,<ref name="airportjournals" /> but on 5 June 1963, the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) announced that it would be recruiting ten to fifteen new [[astronauts]] for [[Project Gemini]] and [[Project Apollo]],{{sfn|Morse|Bays|1973|p=61}} and Anders decided to apply for that too. In two previous astronaut selections, applicants had to be test pilots, but this time it was preferred but not required, making Anders eligible. He was one of the 34 finalists chosen for interviews, and on his birthday, 17 October 1963, he was informed by [[Mercury Seven]] astronaut [[Deke Slayton]] that he had been accepted as a member of the [[NASA Astronaut Group 3|third group]] of NASA astronauts. Three days later, Yeager informed him that he had failed to make the cut for the ARPS but recommended that he apply again the following year.<ref name="airportjournals" /><ref name="roundup">{{cite magazine |magazine=NASA Roundup |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1, 4, 5, 7 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/roundups/issues/63-10-30.pdf |title=14 New Astronauts Introduced at Press Conference |publisher=NASA |date=30 October 1963 |access-date=9 August 2022 |archive-date=27 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727174139/https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/roundups/issues/63-10-30.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

While at NASA, he became involved in [[dosimetry]], radiation effects, and environmental controls.<ref name="nasabio" /> In September 1966, he was the backup pilot for the [[Gemini 11]] mission, with [[Neil Armstrong]] as the backup commander. This would have put him in line to fly a Gemini 13 mission, but no such mission was flown; Project Gemini ended with [[Gemini 12]]. Armstrong and Anders then became the first astronauts to fly the [[Lunar Landing Training Vehicle]]. The astronauts in his group without test pilot training—Anders, [[Roger B. Chaffee]], [[Walter Cunningham]], [[Rusty Schweickart]], [[Gene Cernan]], and [[Buzz Aldrin]]—were assigned to Apollo crews as the [[lunar module pilot|Lunar Module pilot]] (LMP), the lowest-ranking crew member.<ref name="airportjournals" /><ref name="roundup" />