[52-6F-62]

One of my questions was what the contingency plan for the astronauts actually was. From what I could find, it's only that they would stay in comms with NASA until the air ran too low, when they would end comms—shortly before suffocation. Then NASA would broadcast a burial rite by a select clergyman.

Is this the extent of it? Does anybody know if they were to suffocate, or if they had another option? Surely suffocating on the moon would be similarly terrifying to drowning isolated in the ocean. Sure the potential was known, and the reasons noble, but still...

[Sharlin]

Dying of oxygen deprivation is actually one of the most peaceful ways to go. You just get drowsy, then pass out. The physical feeling of suffocation is caused by CO2 buildup in the blood, not lack of oxygen. So as long as their CO2 scrubbers worked, they could have just turned off the oxygen valve and drift off to sleep.

[52-6F-62]

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking of it as closer to holding one's breath/atmosphere leaving. I hadn't thought of it simply being an increase in C02 concentration.

[Doxin]

It's not an increase in CO2 concentration. It's a decrease in O2 concentration. Humans can't actually sense low O2 levels, but instead only high CO2 levels.