Post by laurel on Feb 21, 2010 21:40:51 GMT -4
The NASA Administrator told the Apollo 11 crew to not take any chances and to abort if they needed to and he would put them on the next mission to the Moon. He also told that to the Apollo 12 crew. Unfortunately, he didn't tell that to the Apollo 13 crew.
Can you reference that please?
"Tom Paine was apparently germ-free, however, as he did come and have a quiet dinner with us in crew quarters. As NASA administrator, he must have felt much of the same pressure we did; yet neither side telegraphed the fact, and we had a relaxed and amiable chat. His main message -- and a good one, I think -- was that we were not to take any undue risks. If things didn't look right, we were to come on home, and he would see to it that we would get the next flight for another try at it. This removed the obvious risk of our letting our desire to be first on the Moon cloud our judgment in analyzing hazards that might crop up along the way." Michael Collins, Carrying The Fire, page 355.
"That pressure was very much on the mind of NASA administrator Tom Paine when he dined in the crew quarters on Thursday, July 10. Over dinner, Paine made an extraordinary promise to Armstrong's crew. Don't take any unnecessary risks to accomplish the mission, he told them. If anything should go wrong, don't hesitate to abort. He would see to it that they would not have to get back in line for another flight; they would be assigned to the very next mission to try again." Andrew Chaikin, A Man On The Moon, page 183.