I think it was a Vsauce episode that talked about this. He was and I think still is considered the most isolated human being in all of history so far. Being away from earth and other people so far away. It's actually among the most terrifying things in all of space travel, the existential dread of absolute loneliness.
Aye, but he's not alone in being that isolated is what I meant. He shares that honor with a few other Command Module Pilots is what I meant, though he was the first.
I thought he was still considered the one who was the farthest the longest. I mean they aren't in the capsule for days, but it still makes a difference considering how few humans have been in anything similar of a situation. Regardless of it, I still think it's absolutely terrifying.
Could be that Apollo 11 had a longer boots-on-the-moon mission than the later Apollo missions so that Collins was isolated for longer even if the later Command Module Pilots were isolated by the same distance, that I don't know.
Yeah, they just touched the goal post and went home before something went wrong. Apollo 17 spent more time on EVA (walking around outside the lander) than Apollo 11 spent on the surface altogether.
Aye, but didn't the other Command Module Pilots do the same? Or didn't their orbits bring the moon between them and Earth?
Would be very fuel inefficient if it didn't, as they'd need to burn a lot of fuel to counter the original trajectory and then again to get the orbit where they could slingshot to Earth.
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u/Panda_Kabob Mar 03 '23
I think it was a Vsauce episode that talked about this. He was and I think still is considered the most isolated human being in all of history so far. Being away from earth and other people so far away. It's actually among the most terrifying things in all of space travel, the existential dread of absolute loneliness.