After Gene Cernan had crashed a NASA helicopter while buzzing women sunbathing on a beach near Cape Canaveral in 1971, Slayton concealed the true cause of the accident from Center Director Chris Kraft—to ensure that his good friend Geno did not lose his place as commander of the final mission to the moon. When it came time to replace Slayton, Chris Kraft had chosen Abbey for the job in part to wrestle control of the Astronaut Office back into the hands of the agency’s senior managers.
