I’m sure this has been asked before, but I can’t seem to find the answer.
If Armstrong and Aldrin and been marooned on the moon for some reason would Collins have had any problem getting back to Earth on his own? In other words, was the landing module, or the other 2 astronauts, needed to return the Command Module back to earth?
There is an article in my local newspaper today which talks about the ‘Moon Disaster’ speech that President Nixon had ready if they couldn’t get off the Moon. It talked about the ‘two men’ on the Moon and not Michael Collins. Therefore they thought that Collins could return by himself.
Nah, Armstrong and Aldrin could have left that movie studio all on their own, no worries.
Erm, I mean, Collins had the ship and presumably could have rocketed back to Earth and reentered on his own. It wouldn’t take three guys to do that, would it?
Collins could have returned. It would have certainly required a trajectory adjustment for the difference in mass (both that of the missing astronauts and the samples they brought back) and may have required trimming of the remaining mass in the capsule for reentry, but in all other respects it would have been no different than the nominal return. In fact, there was really no reason to have someone onboard the CSM at all; this was only a contingency in the case that the relay antenna wasn’t able to track correctly or the LM was not able to dock with the CSM, requiring manual control in both cases. Plans for later, long duration Lunar missions, as well as missions to Mars, have assumed no continued crew presence on orbit while the landing mission is conducted.
Stranger
This is an interesting article about Michael Collins’ fears of just such an event:
So, now that that’s been answered may I pose another question?
What technology was used to have the lunar module dock with the command module?
The command module was orbiting the moon (obviously) and the lunar module had to blast off and intercept it. How did the lunar module know when to blast off and how difficult was it to catch up to the command module and dock.
What if the lunar module didn’t reach the right altitude: like if it ended up too low or too high? I think of these things while falling asleep at night. I’m not kidding.
The CSM could rescue the Lunar module if it got into a lower then expected orbit. IIRC the CSM could get as low as 4 miles from the Lunar surface.
They used this is the later missions; CSM’s engine would prefrom the deorbit burn while attacked to the LM and get to a lower orbit before separating allowing for a much larger payload including the rover.
The ascent (or abort) rendezvous is a complicated operation, but basically the LM ascent would be initiated within a predetermined window, the LM would ascend along the same azimuth as the CSM orbit, and the LM radar would provide state data (distance and relative speed) which it fed into the guidance computer. If necessary, the approach could be done completely manually by the astronauts following a flight table which would give orientation and a recalculated burn sequence, and the astronauts would only have to perform the final rendezvous by eyeball, though for that kind of ascent the LM would get within a certain distance and the CSM would perform final maneuvers. Remember, the gravity of the Moon is only 1/6th of Earth, so everything is moving a lot slower and takes far less propellant.
One rejected ascent system (was proposed as a low tech alternative for a Gemini-based Lunar program or a backup to the Apollo system) was basically an open platform with a gimbaled engine, a handful of vernier engines for attitude and reaction control, and basically a complex bombsight for navigation.
Stranger
Who determined the predetermined window? That’s my question, I guess.
One more question that thankfully nobody had to deal with. If the two Apollo 11 astronauts on the Moon had become stranded and died, what were the plans to retrieve the bodies or bury them on the Moon? I assume there was no rescue mission possible, and I doubt they had extra room on Apollo 12 capsule to store two extra bodies for return to Earth.
Maybe they would have used a later mission to get the bodies; though its doubtful.
NASA would probably have continued trying to get them home until they died. William Safire’s famous speech was done by a politician; don’t think it represented official NASA policy.
With the orbital parameters of the CSM and location of the LM it would be almost trivial to calculate the launch window for a given total impulse. That was likely precalculated before the mission was launched with plug in numbers for the astronauts on the surface (as a contingency if they lost communications) or could be refined by JSC once tehy had actuals on orbit and position.
No rescue was possible, and I think it is unlikely that a mission would be launched strictly to recover or bury the bodies. There is a god chance, speeches notwithstanding, that the program may have been shut down or at least deferred after a failure. NASA was already being defunded by the time of Apollo XI and political support for an extended program was dwindling in the face of the economic recession, upcoming energy shortages, and the widening war in Viet Nam.
Stranger
^^Stranger just said ‘. . . there is a god. . . .’
Would staying awake have been a problem?
IMO I think there is a fair chance there WOULD have been a mission to recover the bodies…assuming it was something simple the LEM wouldn’t lift of and Neil and Buzz just sat there and
suffocated. As opposed to to something crashed/blew up/we don’t know what happened.
The engineers woulda said it cost too much. The test pilot foiks woulda said shit happens why bother. The PUBLIC would have pushed hard to bring our boys home.
PS. There is an interesting bit of trivia about that.
Not only was no rescue possible, but everyone involved knew absolutely that no rescue was possible. All that NASA could have done would be to arrange for communication between the astronauts and their loved ones while they were waiting to die. Politicians might have demanded that they try anyway, but the only possible response to such a demand is “It cannot be done”.
As for the bodies, it’s not too different a situation from a shipwreck. The bodies would have been left on the Moon, and the place where they were left would have been designated as a burial site.
Staying awake for what?
The “public” doesn’t write the budget for NASA, and in any case I don’t think the LM ascent stage even had the capacity to lift four astronauts. Nor was there any practical way to store bodies in the Apollo Command Module. The only way this could possibly be done would be by sending a crew of two to Lunar orbit and only one down to the surface in the LM to recover the bodies. Never mind the difficulty of trying to manuever corpses into and out of the LM; the violation of margins and safety provisions would not be acceptible. The first rule in rescue and recovery operations is for the operators to not compound the problem by having to be rescued themsevles.
Stranger
I will defer to your opinion on the other technical difficulties of actually bringing four bodies back (or even three perhaps)…but that first point is bogus.
For the solo flight back from the Moon to the Earth, with neither Aldrin nor Armstrong available to spell him at the controls. How long would he have to stay awake?
Okay.
Buzz beats the crap outa Neil (I’ve seen videos on the net) and then tries to live on LOX from the LEM and freeze dried Neil Jerky.
Can the next lunar mission bring him back alive?