Heres an interesting question; what if the oxygen tanks weren't stirred until after the CSM/LEM had entered Lunar orbit?
There are two scenarios here:
Scenario 1: The CSM explodes before the landing is attempted. This one is fairly simple and boils down to whether or not the LEM had enough ∆V and TWR to beak Lunar orbit with the CSM attached.
Scenario 2: The CSM explodes after the landing is attempted. This is slightly more interesting and I would imagine, very very very bad for the crew.
Heres how I would imagine that would play out;
Immediately after the oxygen tank explodes, mission control would order the guys on the surface to abort to orbit ASAP. Before they do so though, they rip off the insulation from the LEM descent stage and cut out the descent oxygen tank, which they will be taking to orbit with them.
The CSM has about 1 hour 40 minutes of life left. By the time the LEM rendezvouses with it, Swigert will probably be in his EVA suit while the CSM's life support has failed. Here comes the first problem: can the LEM dock to the CSM, since usually, it was the other way around.
When they dock, one of the astronauts will go on EVA, rip the batteries out from the LEM, and try to wire them into the SM's electrical system. The oxygen tanks, internal batteries, EVA suits, and other supplies will also be transferred to the CM.
At this point, all of the batteries and other supplies have been taken from the LEM and it is jettisoned. Meanwhile, the astronaut on EVA continues trying to asses the condition of the SPS and fix what he can. Once he's finished, its time to do the trans-Earth injection burn.
In order for the SPS to fire it needs power. The CM's dead, so the only source of energy is the LEM's batteries that were just wired into the SM's electrical grid. Presumably when jerry-rigging stuff to that extent, it's not possible to wire the batteries to accept commands from the control panels, since they weren't designed to have batteries in the SM.
As such, we reach the second problem: the astronaut on EVA is probably going to have to flick the switch to dump the batteries power into the SPS (or more likely, he's going to have to connect the wires between the batteries and the power grid) while outside the craft, meaning either he will have to scramble to get back in very quickly, or he will have to hold onto the side as hard as he can as the SPS fires.
Oh, and the burn will have to be flown by the seat of their pants since the guidance computer is probably offline.
Assuming this works, and the astronaut doesn't fall off the side, we now have a dead CSM slowly floating towards Earth. I image the crew could possibly use the LEM batteries to power the CO2 scrubbers, radio, and other stuff until its time for reentry. At that point, it proceeds as it did IOTL.
Overall I give scenario 2 a 0% chance of success, but its an interesting concept. What do you think? Could they have survived either of those scenarios?
There are two scenarios here:
Scenario 1: The CSM explodes before the landing is attempted. This one is fairly simple and boils down to whether or not the LEM had enough ∆V and TWR to beak Lunar orbit with the CSM attached.
Scenario 2: The CSM explodes after the landing is attempted. This is slightly more interesting and I would imagine, very very very bad for the crew.
Heres how I would imagine that would play out;
Immediately after the oxygen tank explodes, mission control would order the guys on the surface to abort to orbit ASAP. Before they do so though, they rip off the insulation from the LEM descent stage and cut out the descent oxygen tank, which they will be taking to orbit with them.
The CSM has about 1 hour 40 minutes of life left. By the time the LEM rendezvouses with it, Swigert will probably be in his EVA suit while the CSM's life support has failed. Here comes the first problem: can the LEM dock to the CSM, since usually, it was the other way around.
When they dock, one of the astronauts will go on EVA, rip the batteries out from the LEM, and try to wire them into the SM's electrical system. The oxygen tanks, internal batteries, EVA suits, and other supplies will also be transferred to the CM.
At this point, all of the batteries and other supplies have been taken from the LEM and it is jettisoned. Meanwhile, the astronaut on EVA continues trying to asses the condition of the SPS and fix what he can. Once he's finished, its time to do the trans-Earth injection burn.
In order for the SPS to fire it needs power. The CM's dead, so the only source of energy is the LEM's batteries that were just wired into the SM's electrical grid. Presumably when jerry-rigging stuff to that extent, it's not possible to wire the batteries to accept commands from the control panels, since they weren't designed to have batteries in the SM.
As such, we reach the second problem: the astronaut on EVA is probably going to have to flick the switch to dump the batteries power into the SPS (or more likely, he's going to have to connect the wires between the batteries and the power grid) while outside the craft, meaning either he will have to scramble to get back in very quickly, or he will have to hold onto the side as hard as he can as the SPS fires.
Oh, and the burn will have to be flown by the seat of their pants since the guidance computer is probably offline.
Assuming this works, and the astronaut doesn't fall off the side, we now have a dead CSM slowly floating towards Earth. I image the crew could possibly use the LEM batteries to power the CO2 scrubbers, radio, and other stuff until its time for reentry. At that point, it proceeds as it did IOTL.
Overall I give scenario 2 a 0% chance of success, but its an interesting concept. What do you think? Could they have survived either of those scenarios?