'There is a corner of another world'

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are stranded on the moon due to an explosion attempting to re-fire the engines. They are stuck. What do they do, what does the government do, and what does NASA do? I was planning on writing a T/L but I want your input first.
 
They sit, wait and die. By the time a rescue mission is mounted their oxygen supply is long gone (inlcuding their food and water). It would only be a recovery mission to bring the bodies back to Earth.
 

elkarlo

Banned
Buzz even said that the govt had a prepared statement in the event that they died. Not much we could do. It's like Ferdinand and Isabella sending out a ship to pick up Columbus from drowning
 

Flubber

Banned
You can find the prepared speech online which Nixon was to give in the case of a moon landing disaster.

Armstrong and Aldrin will make the most of their time left and I firmly suspect that will involve examining the lander under direction by Houston for whatever equipment failure has stranded them. They will not die "on camera", the US and the national media had not yet devolved into the voyeurism-at-all-costs assclownery we're sadly used to today.

There are persistent rumors that NASA equipped and/or perhaps still equips astronauts with "suicide pills". The Kiat, e of pi, truth in life, and other members knowledgeable of space exploration will have to confirm that for you however.

The Apollo program will go full stop, much worse than after the Apollo 1 fire. The next landing, and there will be a next landing, will fly with a lander design that was put though a process which would make the initial design process look like it was managed by the Three Stooges.

The moon race is still on too. The US may have landed first, but they haven't brought anyone home alive yet. The USSR might just make an effort.
 
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin die on Luna, and Michael Collins must leave them behind to journey back to Earth alone before his own supplies run out. He will probably have nightmares about that for the rest of his life.

The next American landing, and as Flubber said, there will be another landing, will be much more carefully plotted out. The preparation, testing, and backup contingencies will make the previous efforts look like the work of kids in a game of make-believe. There may even be pre-launch preparations of a rescue mission and provisions to allow the landing team to survive until rescue arrives if necessary. Expensive, but we might yet do it.

There will likely be preparations and plans made for a mission to retrieve the bodies and bring them home for a burial.

I see the Soviet Union maintaining their own efforts for a Lunar excursion until we manage a successful landing or until they do.

Even so, even with all of this, two very brave and capable men would be dead.
 
I would be nearly sure it is a rumor - why bother as they as the astronauts have got all to many other options to take their lives when in space
Yeah, that's right! He said something like "why have a pill when we could just decompress the spacecraft?"
 
“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind”.

-Richard Nixon*
 
Yeah, that's right! He said something like "why have a pill when we could just decompress the spacecraft?"

Guys

Apart from the fact there would be other ways to bring things to a end having suicide tablets on a ship could be a potential problem. Anything from an accident to someone having a break-down and topping themselves. Possibly not that likely given the sort of training and checks the astronauts go through but why take any risks?

The US would seek to return. Would they want to return the bodies or leave them where they died? It might depend on what the families think. Also it would mean a future landing occurring very, very near to where Apollo 11 landed, retrieving the bodies then returning them to Earth.

Steve
 
The US would seek to return. Would they want to return the bodies or leave them where they died? It might depend on what the families think. Also it would mean a future landing occurring very, very near to where Apollo 11 landed, retrieving the bodies then returning them to Earth.

Steve

I think plans to retrieve the bodies would begin even before Michael Collins had made it back to Earth, alone, in the Apollo 11 Command Module. If the families of Armstrong and Aldrin decided to leave them where they died, it might still be decided to send a mission to remove them from the LEM and dig proper graves. Can you imagine being one of the guys selected for that mission?
 
Gee, I guess that's why I described it as a rumor, huh?

No need to get acerbic. The guy was expressing his own views.

I would tend to agree that the presence of "suicide pills" is unlikely. Why bother, when you can achieve the same result with other means?
 

Flubber

Banned
I would tend to agree that the presence of "suicide pills" is unlikely.

I don't believe the rumor myself. I brought it up because someone was bound to do so. I thought by mentioning the rumor and dismissing it as such the issue would be dealt with quickly and the thread move on.

Of course, we've now got as many posts saying "Herp it's a rumor derp" than we do discussing the consequences of the deaths of Armstrong and Aldrin. So much for good intentions. :rolleyes:

Why bother, when you can achieve the same result with other means?

The usual "reasons" - and by "reasons" I mean made-up excuses - usually center around speed, certainty, painlessness, and the like.

So does NASA leave the bodies on the Moon or go for a recovery at a later date? In his excellent Moonlab time line, The Kiat deals with a death on the Moon. In that case, the astronaut's body is brought back to Earth despite his previously announced wishes and the wishes of his family with the reason being that NASA, ever mindful of publicity, doesn't want the public to look at the Moon and immediately think of the grave there.
 
I think plans to retrieve the bodies would begin even before Michael Collins had made it back to Earth, alone, in the Apollo 11 Command Module. If the families of Armstrong and Aldrin decided to leave them where they died, it might still be decided to send a mission to remove them from the LEM and dig proper graves. Can you imagine being one of the guys selected for that mission?

As morbid as this sounds I kind of like the idea of a lunar tomb for Aldrin and Armstrong as opposed to retrieval and return of the bodies.
 
Of course, we've now got as many posts saying "Herp it's a rumor derp" than we do discussing the consequences of the deaths of Armstrong and Aldrin. So much for good intentions. :rolleyes:

Indeed. :p Gotta' be careful with those.

As morbid as this sounds I kind of like the idea of a lunar tomb for Aldrin and Armstrong as opposed to retrieval and return of the bodies.

That's entirely possible, which is why I mentioned it. America has always had the habit of burying wartime dead in the countries where they fell, at least some of them. I could see the idea being replicated for the first men to be lost by the United States on another world. It could be seen as a testament to what they died trying to achieve.
 
I'm afraid I don't really have answers, only more questions, but hopefully thought-provoking ones.

The consensus seems to be that the space program continues. I agree, it would, but do you think it might start to see protesters a la the Vietnam War? And, if there starts to be an "anti-space movement", they'd probably still be in the minority, so what does the mainstream think of them? Do they believe them to be misguided, or "dirty commies", or what?

Also, on a more frivolous note: how long before the fringe/conspiracy theories start? Do people immediately start thinking that maybe the whole thing was a sham and the government secretly killed the men to hush them up? Or that they encountered something deadly on the moon and the government is denying it like they do with UFOs? Or does it take time before that kind of thing creeps into public consciousness?

I'm wondering, too, if this has an impact on pop culture. Star Trek's already been cancelled by this point, I think. I'm wondering if it would still go into syndication, or if people might not be as receptive to it, after the tragedy. Does David Bowie's Space Oddity get pulled off the shelves? How would that impact sci-fi and music, respectively?
 
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