19. The dress rehearsal took steps to ensure the astronauts wouldn’t land on the moon
Apollo 10 was a full-blown dress rehearsal for a lunar landing, including approaching the lunar surface in the LEM, closing to within eight miles before activating the ascent stage engines of the LEM to return to the command module in lunar orbit. Astronauts John Young, Gene Cernan, and Tom Stafford were all veterans of space flight during the Gemini program. A lively discussion developed in the media and among the astronauts regarding the necessity of the dress rehearsal. The argument was along the lines of; Why go so far and come so close without landing? NASA administrators, well aware of the traits of the astronauts, who were likely to find some sort of excuse to go ahead with a landing once they were there, needed to find a means to prevent one.
NASA mission planners ensured that the astronauts in the LEM, Stafford and Cernan, would not attempt to usurp the first landing on the moon by limiting their fuel supply. Well aware that if the astronauts did go ahead there would be no way of disciplining them – they would be international heroes and celebrities – they instead provided only the amount of fuel necessary to return to the command module from their closest approach point. Had the LEM descended toward the lunar surface any further, there was insufficient fuel to get back to the command module. NASA administrators also ensured that the astronauts were fully aware of the nature of their supply. The dress rehearsal was a complete success, setting the stage for the mission of Apollo 11.