Fifty years after the success of the Apollo 11 mission, and the first human landing on the moon, documents published by the library of former U.S. President Richard Nixon revealed that Baz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were expected to be left behind and died after the mission was completed.
According to the documents, published by the Nixon Library, the former U.S. president became the first person to call the moon through a landline.
Speaking to astronauts, Nixon said at the time, "The whole world is proud of you (…) Thanks to what you have done, the heavens are now part of the human world," while the documents said That Nixon was ready for another contact with the wife of Armstrong and Aldrin, who could have become widows.
The documents, which Nixon asked then-speech writer William Savir to write to the public in the event of any lunar disaster that would hinder the return of astronauts, noted that "Apollo 11 astronauts faced unprecedented challenges in bringing the spacecraft back to orbit."
"If the astronauts cannot return to orbit, they will have to be abandoned on the moon and left to die there, either starving to death or committing suicide." documents showed.
If that had happened, NASA would have had to cut off communications with astronauts convicted of staying there, and instruct President Nixon to inform the world of what had happened, according to the documents.
Fifty years after the success of the Apollo 11 mission, and the first human landing on the moon, documents published by the library of former U.S. President Richard Nixon revealed that Baz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were expected to be left behind and died after the mission was completed.
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