"If they couldn't [do it], they'd have to be abandoned on the moon, left to die there," Safire told Meet the Press. "The men would either have to starve to death or commit suicide."
If that had occurred, NASA would have cut off communications with the doomed spacemen
Pretty damn callous.
But realistic. There was no return, and no hope for saving anyone.
But can you imagine abandoning someone like that? "Mission Control, please tell my wife I love her" <hiss crackle>
I get what you're saying, but everyone involved was prepared for failure. It was a seriously iffy thing to accomplish. My guess is they would have had full communications with the astronauts speaking to loved ones and such, at least until the end was near. It would've been the public who would've been blacked out, and likely rightfully so. In any case, a hell of a lonely death.
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