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> AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN Jesus. It sounds like they'd tell the wives their husbands are going to die, and then pull the plug;

> AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN Jesus. It sounds like they'd tell the wives their husbands are going to die, and then pull the plug; why not let the men say their goodbyes themselves, and (at least) give them the dignity to end the communications of their own volition? They'd probably survive for hours, if not days, wouldn't they?!

tptacek 10y ago
You're reading too much into it. The astronauts are too far away to reliably monitor; NASA will eventually "end communication" on the presumption, but not the verification, of the astronaut's death.
- Waterluvian 10y ago
  I imagine that means they give up repeating, "do you copy?" Did they have suicide pills? I don't think I'd want to suffocate.
  - YCode 10y ago
    According to this [1] they didn't need them: > Outer space is just as effective a suicide agent as a cyanide capsule, perhaps even more so. Exposure to its empty vacuum often results in a blissful loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds. Death by asphyxiation usually follows within two minutes. [1] http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/astronauts-and-suicide-pills.html http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/astronauts-and-...
    - firebones 10y ago
      Two minutes is a helluva long time, (But if it's true that the cyanide crunch is 4 minutes, then, point given.)
      - kqr 10y ago
        As long as blissful unconsciousness is reached within seconds I don't think the other two minutes matter a whole lot.
        YCode 10y ago
        You know I almost didn't include the two minutes bit because I figured people would fixate on that and not realize you aren't conscious for it.
  - concede_pluto 10y ago
    Hypercapnia is the scary part. Turning off the O2 feed and passing out should be pretty peaceful if the CO2 scrubber still works.
  - 7952 10y ago
    It is hard to imagine them just giving up. Why not try to fix the problem, even if it is a long shot.
    - Waterluvian 10y ago
      Some problems are very clearly impossible to fix, especially without a planet of tools and resources. Can't really synthesize fuel, can you?
      - concede_pluto 10y ago
        The one that got to me was the Lunar Module Ascent Engine. You only get one and the fuel is so corrosive that it couldn't be test fired. It works on the first try, or it doesn't.
LeifCarrotson 10y ago
That completely depends on the nature of the failure. This speech was written for a broad range of possible causes. Capsule explodes on takeoff from the moon? No last words. Discover that nobody remembered to refill the rocket fuel? Sure, they have quite a few days of life support. Though I expect that, like the story of the doomed cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov (who was allowed to say goodbye to his wife privately as his capsule burned up as it careened, parachuteless, through the atmosphere) their last words might not be something that NASA or Nixon would want to broadcast.
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  From Wikipedia: "as Komarov sped towards his death, U.S. listening posts in Turkey picked up transmissions of him crying in rage, 'cursing the people who had put him inside a botched spaceship.'[26]"

tptacek 10y ago

You're reading too much into it. The astronauts are too far away to reliably monitor; NASA will eventually "end communication" on the presumption, but not the verification, of the astronaut's death.

Waterluvian 10y ago
I imagine that means they give up repeating, "do you copy?" Did they have suicide pills? I don't think I'd want to suffocate.
- YCode 10y ago
  According to this [1] they didn't need them: > Outer space is just as effective a suicide agent as a cyanide capsule, perhaps even more so. Exposure to its empty vacuum often results in a blissful loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds. Death by asphyxiation usually follows within two minutes. [1] http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/astronauts-and-suicide-pills.html http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/astronauts-and-...
  - firebones 10y ago
    Two minutes is a helluva long time, (But if it's true that the cyanide crunch is 4 minutes, then, point given.)
    - kqr 10y ago
      As long as blissful unconsciousness is reached within seconds I don't think the other two minutes matter a whole lot.
      - YCode 10y ago
        You know I almost didn't include the two minutes bit because I figured people would fixate on that and not realize you aren't conscious for it.
- concede_pluto 10y ago
  Hypercapnia is the scary part. Turning off the O2 feed and passing out should be pretty peaceful if the CO2 scrubber still works.
- 7952 10y ago
  It is hard to imagine them just giving up. Why not try to fix the problem, even if it is a long shot.
  - Waterluvian 10y ago
    Some problems are very clearly impossible to fix, especially without a planet of tools and resources. Can't really synthesize fuel, can you?
    - concede_pluto 10y ago
      The one that got to me was the Lunar Module Ascent Engine. You only get one and the fuel is so corrosive that it couldn't be test fired. It works on the first try, or it doesn't.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

That completely depends on the nature of the failure. This speech was written for a broad range of possible causes. Capsule explodes on takeoff from the moon? No last words. Discover that nobody remembered to refill the rocket fuel? Sure, they have quite a few days of life support. Though I expect that, like the story of the doomed cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov (who was allowed to say goodbye to his wife privately as his capsule burned up as it careened, parachuteless, through the atmosphere) their last words might not be something that NASA or Nixon would want to broadcast.

Hydraulix989 10y ago
From Wikipedia: "as Komarov sped towards his death, U.S. listening posts in Turkey picked up transmissions of him crying in rage, 'cursing the people who had put him inside a botched spaceship.'[26]"