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Comment by turnersauce | Hacker News Reader

I certainly can't think of a lonelier place to die than the moon.

I don't know. Dying sucks no matter where it happens but once you come to terms with that I think it would be kind of neat. I can't imagine they didn't have some kind of suicide pill to avoid an unpleasant death (probably couldn't be a pill but some kind of syringe or something). So they wouldn't suffocate.

Assuming that's true I think drifting to sleep underneath the Earth in the same way people on earth drift to sleep underneath the moon would be pretty darn awesome.

Not to be morbid or anything, but the only painful part of suffocation is excess carbon dioxide. In a pure nitrogen atmosphere you'd be in a good mood for a couple of minutes, then lose consciousness and never wake up.

I have no idea if that sort of thing was available on the moon missions, but it would probably the most convenient option if you've got nitrogen available.

On that subject, there is a great documentary with former British MP Michael Portillo about humane death penalty methods:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8068091823725414405...

He comes to the conclusion nitrogen would be the most humane (euphoria, then painless death). Apparantly it won't get used because those states that still use the death penalty find this way of leaving the temporary for the infinite a bit too easy on the convicted... (forward to 45:30 in the video).

This 'suicide pill' is a myth. The moon-astronauts (e.g. Buzz Aldrin) have been asked on several occasions and denied its existence.

I remember an interview with Aldrin where he was asked how he would have spent his last moments in case he got stranded on the moon, and he answered he'd be trying to get the engine working :)

How about alone in your apartment, in a city of millions of people, non of whom you know and not one even knows or cares that you exist. Your death will go undiscovered for days or weeks and even when discovered, not a single person will care beyond the inconvenience you've caused them. That would a far lonelier place to die.

What a depressing image you paint. Even worse, I'm sure lots of people go that way, in both big cities and poverty-stricken areas.

Yes, but how many people get to die with all of human civilization completely within their view?

These men would have had very little to no hope of a rescue, but they would have had plenty of air left to choose when they wanted to die. I can think of no more beautiful sight at death than your entire world and species.

Are you claustrophobic? From http://www.astronautix.com/craft/reseball.htm :

“It was said that when they were in use, astronaut candidates would be asked to get in one. After fifteen minutes or so, the candidate was asked how long they thought they had been in. If the candidate was not hysterical and guessed anything under an hour, they passed!”

The entire planet would have been with them. You want to die lonely, you can do that anywhere.

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