According to CollectSpace, Astronaut John Bull died on August 14th. He was 73.

Selected in 1966 with NASA's fifth group of astronauts, Bull's class of 19 trainees, dubbed the "Original 19", also included future moonwalkers Charles Duke, James Irwin and Edgar Mitchell.

Training for an assignment as a lunar module pilot, Bull was named with Irwin in early 1967 to the crew of LTA-8, a thermal vacuum test of the moon lander. Citing sinus problems however, Bull was replaced by his backup prior to the test starting at the Space Enviroment Simulation Laboratory in Houston, Texas.

Together with Thomas Mattingly and Gerald Carr, Bull was then named on November 20, 1967 to the support crew for the second Apollo manned flight of the Saturn V, to assist prime and backup crew members — including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins — as they trained.

Ultimately, that mission with its crew of Jim Lovell, Frank Borman and Bill Anders would launch in December 1968 as Apollo 8, becoming the first manned flight to orbit the Moon.

Bull would leave the astronaut corps before then however, never flying in space himself. Diagnosed with a rare pulmonary disease, he was forced to resign in July 1968.

Bull is survived by his wife, Nancy, and their two children Scott and Whitney.

Still yet another reason to get these stories told.  So, if you know anyone who wants to tell their story of their work on Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, or even Skylab, please drop us a line at apollotalks at gmail dot com.

MIT Professor David A. Mindell joins us to talk about the Apollo Guidance Computer and his cool book DIGITAL APOLLO. Get it at Amazon here - http://tinyurl.com/apollobkclub3

NBC New space reporter Jay Barbree is my guest. He's the only reporter to have covered every manned flight in US History. It's a goodie.