I read years ago...

that one of the characters was inspired by Capt Pete Conrad, the 3rd man on the moon and about the most enjoyable man to be around on a crew and a top notch pilot as well. Apollo 12 has long been my favored crew and I collect anything I can about the 3 awesome men. Being the fun guy with the always positive outlook but notoriously with the mouth of a sailor does anyone have a notion of which character it might be? Better yet does anyone know for sure which was written after an inspiring meeting with the original Rocketman?
Btw, Apollo 13 movie had Pete included in the opening scene only after Ron Howard meet him and thought him to be a "character" he couldn't have go unseen in the movie. Conrad reportedly asked for a cameo but was denied. I doubt that to be true as a few others had cameo's, like my hero Gene Kranz, and could've been put easily in 3 seasons I can think of right off the bat.