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In the late 1960s, following the Apollo 11 Moon landings,
the three astronauts were waiting to be picked up inside their
capsule floating in the Pacific Ocean — and they were hot and
uncomfortable. NASA officials decided to make things more
pleasant for their three national heroes. The downside? There
was a small possibility of unleashing deadly alien microbes
on Earth.
When humanity first made plans to send probes and people
into space in the mid-20th Century, the issue of contamination
came up. Firstly, there was the fear of “forward” contamination
— the possibility that Earth-based life might accidentally hitch
a ride into the cosmos. Spacecraft needed to be sterilised and
carefully packaged before launch. If microbes silently moved
onboard, it would confuse any attempts to detect alien life. And
if there were extra-terrestrial organisms out there, we might
end up inadvertently killing them with Earth-based bacteria or
viruses. These concerns matter just as much today as they
did back in the Space Race era.
A second concern was “back” contamination. This was
the idea that astronauts, rockets or probes returning to Earth
might bring back life that could prove catastrophic, either by
consuming all our oxygen or outcompeting Earth organisms.
What if the astronauts brought back something dangerous?
At the time, the probability was not considered high, but still,
the scenario had to be explored. “Maybe it’s sure to 99%
that Apollo 11 will not bring back lunar organisms,” said one
influential scientist at the time, “but even that 1% of uncertainty
is too large to be complacent about.”
NASA put several quarantine measures in place — in
some cases, a little reluctantly. Concerned officials from the
US Public Health Service argued for stricter measures than
initially planned, pointing out that they had the power to refuse
border entry to contaminated astronauts. NASA then agreed
to install a costly quarantine facility on the ship that would
pick up the men from their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
It was also agreed that the lunar explorers would then spend
three weeks in isolation before they could hug their families or
shake the hand of the president.
(Richard Fisher. www.bbc.com, 18.02.2021. Adapted.)
According to the third and fourth paragraphs, the disputes
over the potential risks posed by the return of Apollo 11 from
outer space were eventually settled as follows:
