 Deke Slayton , the Mercury astronaut who was grounded and became Director of Flight Crew Operations , selected the first Apollo crew in January 1966 , with Grissom as Command Pilot , White as Senior Pilot , and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot . But Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC135 weightlessness training aircraft , and had to undergo surgery on January 27 . Slayton replaced him with Chaffee , and NASA announced the crew selection on March 21 , 1966 . James McDivitt , David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as the backup crew . 
