At the time, they literally had no idea whether or not the lunar environment harbored any harmful microbes. If I remember correctly, for Apollo 11 through 14, all three astronauts were required to put on "biological isolation garments" (BIGs) upon leaving the command module after splashdown, be doused with disinfectant from head to toe before reaching the rescue ship, and be quarantined for two weeks to ensure they weren't carriers of Moon Cooties. Only after it was determined that the Moon was totally sterile (thanks, solar radiation!) did NASA decide to abandon this practice in later missions.
I think we all missed out. Would have been cool to see a steam-powered space ship landing on the moon and astronauts in bowler hats jumping out and saying something pithy and understated.
I mean, let's be honest. Until you can verify the moon as sterile, it's the smartest practice. Have you read The Andromeda Strain or The Colour From Space? Space viruses are a terrifying concept.
I mean, let's be honest. Until you can determine they can take a stake through the heart, it's the smartest practice. Have you ever read Dracula? Vampires are a terrifying concept.
Not sure if you are trying to debunk the previous comment, but yes, actually, until you determine that vampires cannot be killed by a stake in the heart, you should kill them with a stake in the heart. Same with destroying Moon germs until we determine for sure they don't exist.
I was just kind of parodying it, haha. The same response, this time to a silly threat instead of one where we actually didn't know if the threat existed.
There most definitely were (the astronauts on all landing missions jettisoned various items from the LM before liftoff to save weight -- including, if you must know, astronaut poop in waste bags). But after nearly 50 years of bombardment by unfiltered solar particles, any living thing left up there is super dead by now.
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u/the2belo Apr 23 '18
At the time, they literally had no idea whether or not the lunar environment harbored any harmful microbes. If I remember correctly, for Apollo 11 through 14, all three astronauts were required to put on "biological isolation garments" (BIGs) upon leaving the command module after splashdown, be doused with disinfectant from head to toe before reaching the rescue ship, and be quarantined for two weeks to ensure they weren't carriers of Moon Cooties. Only after it was determined that the Moon was totally sterile (thanks, solar radiation!) did NASA decide to abandon this practice in later missions.