What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

The question reads like a TASAT Challenge, but it’s a true story.

A payload specialist on the 17th Space Shuttle mission was inconsolable when, after five years of preparation, his science experiment failed to work.

For subsequent missions, NASA quietly installed a padlock on the internal hatch release…

Re: astronauts who disobey orders

In one episode of “Big Bang Theory”, the ISS crew is confronted with a spewing toilet. When mission control refuses to ok an evacuation, one spaceman replies, Sorry Houston, but this is more of an FYI than a request, we’re leaving :laughing:

" We do not know what led Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins to betray the trust we placed in them, abandon their mission, and steer their vessel toward Mars. Nor do we know what compelled them to transmit such hurtful messages back to Earth, heaping contempt on their onetime home.
But whatever the cause of their dereliction, I call upon the United States to commit itself, before this year is out, to launching a mission to chase down Apollo 11 and return its crew to earth to face justice. "

1 Like