North American Aviation's 1965 Plan to Rescue Apollo Astronauts Stranded in Lunar Orbit

Apollo 15 Command and Service Module Endeavour in lunar orbit. The drum-shaped portion is the Service Module and the conical portion, the Co...

If an Apollo Lunar Module Crashed on the Moon, Could NASA Investigate the Cause? (1967)

All alone in the gray: the Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger photographed by its crew from a distance of about two miles. Image credit: NAS...

What If a Crew Became Stranded On Board the Skylab Space Station? (1972)

Image credit: NASA On 28 July 1973, the Skylab 3 crew of Alan Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy...

What If Apollo Astronauts Could Not Ride the Saturn V Rocket? (1965)

Image credit: NASA George Mueller left private industry to become NASA's new Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight in Septembe...

What If Apollo Astronauts Became Marooned in Lunar Orbit? (1968)

238,000 miles from home - Earth as viewed by the Apollo 8 astronauts in lunar orbit, Christmas Eve 1968. Image credit: NASA The three-man cr...

What If an Apollo Lunar Module Ran Low on Fuel and Aborted its Moon Landing? (1966)

"The Eagle has wings!" The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle shortly after separating from Apollo 11 Command and Service Module Colum...

What If an Apollo Saturn Rocket Exploded on the Launch Pad? (1965)

Abort Mode One-Alpha. Image credit: NASA No member of the Saturn rocket family ever killed an astronaut. Two Saturn rocket designs were rate...