What If Buzz and Neil Didn't Come Back from the Moon? Nixon Had a Secret Plan.

Pedro_P

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In one of the most dangerous moments of the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong pilot the Lunar Module back into orbit around the moon. Had their one attempt to rendezvous with the Command Module failed, the men would be left to die on the moon.
Credit: NASA
▼ When astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to walk on the moonon July 20, 1969, then-President Richard Nixon became the first human to call the moon from a landline phone. In the televised call(patched up to the lunar module by NASA mission control in Houston), Nixon told the astronauts that the whole world was proud of them, and that "because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world."
At the same time, however, the president was prepared to make another call — to Armstrong and Aldrin's soon-to-be-widowed wives.
Even after the lunar module touched down on the Sea of Tranquilitythat night, there was no guarantee that Aldrin and Armstrong would be able to make it safely back to the orbiting command modulewhere their crewmember Michael Collins waited, let alone back to Earth. With this in mind, Nixon asked speechwriter William Safire to pen him a contingency plan "in event of moon disaster."
As Safire explained in a 1999 interview with  Meet the Press, piloting the lunar module back into orbit to meet the command module was one of the riskiest objectives of the Apollo 11 mission. While the crew of Apollo  10had previously piloted the lunar module to within 9 miles (14.4 kilometers) of the moon's surface, the Apollo 11 astronauts faced an unprecedented challenge in returning the module to orbit.
"If they couldn't [do it], they'd have to be abandoned on the moon, left to die there,"  (▪ ▪ ▪)

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asr335704

It was really courageous of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong to pilot this mission. After reading this article, I have more respect towards them.
It was really a great risk they took to conquer Moon and etched their names in space history.

ssangra

The astronauts were prepared for it. What they went to find out was much more important than their lives as per them. It was not just a plain moon mission. Armstrong was an illuminati

Rhett_Bassard

ssangra 17-7-2019 08:20 AM
The astronauts were prepared for it. What they went to find out was much more important than their l ...

As a young man, I wanted to be an astronaut and almost qualified for the Air Force Academy, but didn't have the eyesight.
I watched that Moon landing in 1969 when the Army brought us into a remote camp that had a TV.
I respected and envied Armstrong (and Aldrin) for 50 yrs.
However, 5 hrs ago, I learned that "The only thing important to America is Dollars" and by association, this includes US astronauts.
This stereotype now leads me to discount Armstrong, Aldrin, and all US astronauts as money-grabbing expansionists seeking profit from Outer Space.
I'm so glad all of India and consequently their astronauts don't have this reputation. Praise India for its singular altruism.

Pedro_P

My grandmother used to say, money does not make happiness, but it helps a little...
And certainly, money is important, but it's not the most important thing... It all depends on how you use it.
Apart from political considerations (in the midst of rivalries between world powers at the time) and economic considerations, the trip to the Moon was a very important event, opening the doors to new scientific developments and technological advances.
The construction of some stereotypes is an example of misguided generalization.