Claggett, Randy

American phantom cosmonaut. Fictional Apollo 18 mission commander who died on the lunar surface in Michener's novel Space and the resulting television mini-series.

James Michener's novelization of the American space program, "Space", was made into a television mini-series of the same name in 1985. The novel and series culminate in the fictional Apollo 18 mission to the far side of the moon. Here Mission Commander Randy Claggett and Lunar Module Pilot Paul Linley die from a solar flare's massive radiation dose while an attempting an emergency ascent from the lunar surface. ‘Apollo 18' mission patches created for the mini-series became collectibles. However they also created confusion and resulted in some stories among the collector community about this mysterious ‘real' mission ….