66 replies to this topic

[Sundew]

It is amazing that we made it to the moon and back, I remember watching it live on TV, sadly this generation has never seen it's equal yet. One of the very real dangers would have been a solar flare's radiation hitting the spacecraft. Once outside the earth's protective magnetic field that blocks the solar wind, the ship could have been subjected to lethal levels of radiation. Somewhere I remember hearing that you would need lead shielding several feet thick to provide adequate protection in such an event, but thankfully the sun was relatively quiet during those missions.

[Device]

What they should've done is had another Apollo mission standing by as the contingency plan. Surely they could've spent that sort of cash for three human lives. And think of all that prestige they might have saved if things went wrong. But they didn't. Hmmm.

[pallidin]

Sundew, on 24 July 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

It is amazing that we made it to the moon and back, I remember watching it live on TV, sadly this generation has never seen it's equal yet. One of the very real dangers would have been a solar flare's radiation hitting the spacecraft. Once outside the earth's protective magnetic field that blocks the solar wind, the ship could have been subjected to lethal levels of radiation. Somewhere I remember hearing that you would need lead shielding several feet thick to provide adequate protection in such an event, but thankfully the sun was relatively quiet during those missions.

Stop already!
We're not going through that again.

There are other threads which address that issue. This isn't one of them.

[Junior Chubb]

The Lunar missions that followed may not have taken place.
They would still be there now.
The 3 astronauts would all have been as famous as each other.
The 'Fake moon landing' conspiracy would still be with us.
Their last moments in the Lunar Module would have been portrayed in a Hollywood film.

Great but morbid article, thanks for posting

Edited by Junior Chubb, 25 July 2012 - 12:13 AM.

[MID]

pallidin, on 24 July 2012 - 03:31 PM, said:

Great article. I did not know Nixon had a prepared speech.

Yes, he had an eloquent address prepared, and a plan for what to say to the wives of each crew member.

There were no suicide pills, and no Apollo crew member would've accepted any, as they were not on a suicide mission and had the utmost trust in their machinery and the people who designed and built it.
No pills, no suicide plans.

They'd simply work the problem with Mission Control until they passed out from hypoxia, and died  silently while no one listened.


These things were planned.  The President's speech, and Mission Control procedures, but ione thing is certain.  No one woul've taken a pill to off themselves, and no one was going to hear any communications between the MOCR and the crew.





There was also no possibility of Mike Collins, or Dick Gordon, or Stu Roosa, or Ken Mattingly, or Ron Evans, of rescuing a stranded crew on the surface of the Moon.

Quote

Also, the very last part of the article is someting I was wondering about from the beginning. Should they have been stranded and died, it would be somewhat odd to look up at the moon, even today, and not think about 2 dead men there.
Well, at least for me anyway... I was around during the Apollo launches.

Yes, me too...I was around some...
It would be odd, and realizing that the LRO photos, now shwoing an entire LM, would be showing a tomb, and a monument to the first, and only tragedy in space.

Not worth contemplating...

.

Edited by MID, 25 July 2012 - 12:07 AM.

[MID]

Sundew, on 24 July 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

It is amazing that we made it to the moon and back, I remember watching it live on TV, sadly this generation has never seen it's equal yet. One of the very real dangers would have been a solar flare's radiation hitting the spacecraft. Once outside the earth's protective magnetic field that blocks the solar wind, the ship could have been subjected to lethal levels of radiation. Somewhere I remember hearing that you would need lead shielding several feet thick to provide adequate protection in such an event, but thankfully the sun was relatively quiet during those missions.

You heard wrong.
That several-feet-thick-Pb shielding busines is the product of people who knew nothing--an "old wives tale", as it were, a product of alarmism in the 1940s and 1950s.
Oddly enough, fibrous materials and plastic are (and were) the best insulators against the typical radiation presented in a lunar mission.

[csspwns]

pallidin, on 24 July 2012 - 03:31 PM, said:

Great article. I did not know Nixon had a prepared speech.
Also, the very last part of the article is someting I was wondering about from the beginning. Should they have been stranded and died, it would be somewhat odd to look up at the moon, even today, and not think about 2 dead men there.
Well, at least for me anyway... I was around during the Apollo launches.

i would be disturbing if their corpses floated down to earth

[MID]

iluthradanar, on 24 July 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

No contingency plan? How about some sort of package dropped off prior to astronaut arrival, with some sort of emergency shelter, food and water. of course, that might just prolong the inevitable since they had no ability to pick them up.

OK, survival package.
With enough oxygen to pressurize the LM cabin for how long, and to provide for repressurizations for how long, and food for how long?

Just drop it off?

Tjhere were no such things, no such plans, and everyone fully understoof that unless the ascent engine fired...they were both dead.
The odds were in favor of a hypergolic engine firing, ertainly, but it was a bit of a risk.

Mike Collins, would eventually have had to come back home and leave them on the surface...but again,

We're speculating on nonsensical things here.

Edited by MID, 25 July 2012 - 01:22 AM.

[MID]

csspwns, on 25 July 2012 - 12:32 AM, said:

i would be disturbing if their corpses floated down to earth

Jesus...WHAT???   

It might make an interesting, and educational discussion to learn what in hades you mean by that and how it could happen....but really.


Last time I checked, Neil Armstrong, Mike  Collins, and Buzz Aldrin were alive and kicking as they hit the 80 year marks in their lives.

When has their ever been a corpse in space, let alone a floating one?
  How does a corpse "float" out of a gravirty field of  5.3FPS2,, sealed in a derelict spacecraft,  and manage to "float down to Earth"...???


Hmmmmm???

Edited by MID, 25 July 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[Lnzar7]

They were not worried because they did not have far to go!
only out the back door of the studio set.... :yes:

Edited by Lnzar7, 25 July 2012 - 05:07 AM.

[Habitat]

MID, on 25 July 2012 - 01:20 AM, said:

Jesus...WHAT???   

It might make an interesting, and educational discussion to learn what in hades you mean by that and how it could happen....but really.


Last time I checked, Neil Armstrong, Mike  Collins, and Buzz Aldrin were alive and kicking as they hit the 80 year marks in their lives.

When has their ever been a corpse in space, let alone a floating one?
  How does a corpse "float" out of a gravirty field of  5.3FPS2,, sealed in a derelict spacecraft,  and manage to "float down to Earth"...???


Hmmmmm???

"Arthur Clarke's "Mysterious World" eat your heart out !

[triphala108]

rubish never went to the moon

[Habitat]

triphala108, on 25 July 2012 - 07:38 AM, said:

rubish never went to the moon

You make a compelling case there, imo.

[Junior Chubb]

triphala108, on 25 July 2012 - 07:38 AM, said:

rubish never went to the moon

Your right!!!

Rubbish never went to the moon, it goes to the dump. Don't give them ideas though, landfill sites on the moon would absolutely ruin the Sea of Tranquillity...

Edited by Junior Chubb, 25 July 2012 - 11:02 AM.

[DeathRain2012]

NASA apparently shuts down.. I live about 2 hours from a launch pad (I live in Florida) and I see streams of exaust leading up and through the atmosphere almost twice a week.. I think they are making trip after trip to haul supplies for a fallout shelter on the moon. Just an accusation though.