OK, right up front, this has nothing to do with hoaxery, even though the title kinda sounds that way.
In Project Apollo, NASA had a plan, manuals, and checklists for every procedure, especially emergency procedures.
Something you never see talked about, and that I've been completely unable to come up with even a shred of information on, is the contingency plan that must have existed for the "Nightmare Scenario" - a stranded LM.
It was always a possibility, of course. In a UK Guardian article a few years ago, Mike Collins - in notes he made as he waited in orbit - referred to it as his "secret terror".
If the nightmare happened, if the ascent engine failed to fire, or if there was a catastrophic life-support failure in the LM, the CMP would be responsible for bringing his ship home, operating a complex spacecraft designed to be flown by a crew of three.
That cannot have been an easy task and, NASA being NASA, surely they put Collins, Gordon, Roosa and the others through sims to be certain that the CM could be successfully operated in a single-astronaut mode and that the CMP was 'drilled-in' on the procedures. This probably went on while the CDR and LMP were off doing suit drills and training on their lunar surface checklists.
But you never hear or see anything about this. I understand that it's something that NASA wouldn't want to call attention to, but there must surely be some records.
Does anyone here know of anything available on the subject?
