The solution to this challenge was called the “fail-safe” data transmission. When he conceived it, Alan likened it to astronaut Neil Armstrong’s “contingency sample” collection, the first thing Armstrong did after stepping onto the Moon in 1969. Then the logic was to have something to show scientifically for the mission of Apollo 11 in case something went immediately wrong, and he and Buzz Aldrin had to suddenly abandon their moonwalk before more comprehensive lunar sampling could take place.
