# Returning back from the Moon: Quarantine **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656 "2012-08-25T23:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/21 "2012-09-09T19:17:00Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > I imagine there’d be lots of redundancy, but could they fly home from the moon or Mars without help from Earth? If HAL isn’t driving. 🙂 I’d presume that it could be done with celestial tables, a sextant and lots of extra gas, air and food. From star sighting you could tell where you are. You’d need to know where Earth is, and where it will be when you get home. There would be lots of course changes, hence the extra food, fuel and air. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/22 "2012-09-09T19:19:02Z")
NASA really fell down explaining this stuff to the public. Unmanned missions had found a lot of titanium in lunar soils. Titanium is a known human immunosuppressant. The quarantine was to protect the astronauts from getting sick. After a couple of missions it was seen to be less of a problem than feared, so NASA could cut out the quarantines. Moon germs were easy to explain, but a zillion-to-one shot. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/23 "2012-09-09T19:42:13Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Unmanned missions had found a lot of titanium in lunar soils. Titanium is a known human immunosuppressant. How exactly were the astronauts exposed to lunar soil? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/24 "2012-09-09T20:11:04Z")
When they took off their helmets after walking on the moon. Their spacesuits were covered with moon dust. The LEM barely had room fir the astronauts, let alone a shower. I don’t know how well the soil sampled were sealed. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/25 "2012-09-09T22:07:06Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > How exactly were the astronauts exposed to lunar soil? Lunar dust is surprisingly sticky. It’s not rounded at all on a microscopic scale, but instead made up of sharp-edged jagged fragments. When the astronauts walked on the moon, they got dust all over their boots and legs. The lunar lander didn’t have an airlock - they had to decompress the entire cabin to leave - so when they came back in and re-pressurized it, dust from their suits got everywhere. This is a major concern for future lunar missions. In addition to being possibly mildly toxic, lunar dust is terrifically abrasive, and tends to wreck seals and bearings aver repeated cycles. And it also gets everywhere. This is why some of the more recent plans NASA has come up with involve suits that have a big hatch on the backpack that docks to the lander/rover, so the suit itself never has to come inside. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/26 "2012-09-09T22:09:36Z")
I wasn’t aware of that, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656/27 "2012-09-09T22:10:10Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Jim Irwin, who had a cardiac event on the moon > > –Cliffy Minor nitpick - Irwin didn’t suffer his cardiac event while on the lunar surface. It was observed by NASA while the crew was in lunar orbit preparing to return to the Earth. In fact, doctors noted he was in the best place for it to occur, because he was in zero gravity, so nearly weightless. > **[Return of Apollo 15 to Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_15,_Return_to_Earth)** > > After the Apollo 15 LM Falcon lifted from the lunar surface on August 2, 1971, it rendezvoused and docked with the CSM Endeavour. After transferring across the lunar samples and other equipment, Falcon was jettisoned. It would fire its rocket engine to cause it to impact the lunar surface. > Apollo 15 spent one more day in lunar orbit, continuing Worden's observations. After releasing a subsatellite, they ignited their service propulsion system to put them on a trajectory back to Earth. The next d... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/returning-back-from-the-moon-quarantine/632656.md?page=1)