Lunar Martyrs

Supposedly, after a last moonwalk, as he was settling down in the Lunar Module, Buzz Aldrin bumped and broke the circuit breaker. This would effectively leave both him and Neil Armstrong stranded on the surface of the Moon, unable to lift off and rejoin Pilot Micheal Collins in the Command Module, unable to return back to Terra. Apparently President Nixon had a speech all ready in relation to this tragedy -- except it did not happen. Armstrong and Aldrin were able to repair the Lunar Module with a mere felt tip pen, escaped the Moon and thus escaped Fate.
The POD: Apollo 11 was deliberately designed to fail. President Nixon, and possibly others, had harboured the skewed hopes that a failed mission, of two brave men stranded on another world, would spur the Space Race, possibly as a cover for a darker Arms Race. Either:
A. the Apollo astronauts would land but not be released to the public, (under claims of a space virus). or
B. the Lunar Module could not be repaired, and the sabotage realized, but not reported at first.

Just a thought, if a twisted one.
 
There are too many ways for this to backfire for the US in terms of international prestige and the future of American space exploration. In the event of any major disaster (accidental or otherwise) like the one posited in the OP, a moratorium on further manned lunar missions would almost certainly be put in place, and key NASA administrators and mission directors would likely end up stuck in Congressional accountability hearings for years to come. The Soviets would be emboldened by American failure and might make worthwhile use of the temporary grounding of the Apollo programme in getting a hesdstart on their own attempts to land cosmonauts on the moon.
 
I doubt there were ever any desires in the government for Apollo 11 to fail. Nixon having a speech on the subject just sounds like being prepared for all situaitons, such as newspapers having planned front pages for either presidential candidate winning the election.
 
I doubt there were ever any desires in the government for Apollo 11 to fail. Nixon having a speech on the subject just sounds like being prepared for all situaitons, such as newspapers having planned front pages for either presidential candidate winning the election.

Yep, that speech was written as a contingency. Realistically, there were a million things that could have gone wrong with the Apollo 11 mission. The Nixon WH was just being smart and planning for the worst while hoping for the best.
 
a suggested read

on this basic line can i recommend Brenden DuBois "on the plains of deception"
a great little short story along these lines.
 

Japhy

Banned
"Darker arms race"? It's cute, but no; the Nixon White House was not filled with evil, secret Crypto-fascists looking for martyrs.
 
"Darker arms race"? It's cute, but no; the Nixon White House was not filled with evil, secret Crypto-fascists looking for martyrs.

Besides, if he tried, it WOULD come out, and he, the Presidency and NASA would all come out of this with a huge, huge black eye. Firings, impeachment, murder charges all seem likely. NASA dissolved and missions split between NOOA, the military and oh, jpl or something.
 
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