This week’s quibble comes from the Dec. 9, 2011 edition of Geek Trivia, which asked what onboard Christmas gifts did the Apollo 8 astronauts leave famously unopened?
Member jpnagle59 recounted a personal anecdote that may have explained the astronauts’ anti-Santa stance:
I met these great men after about 3 years from that flight. They all seemed to me to be a very level headed gentlemen…but there was an underlying sense of humor with these guys…One said to me after I asked the question–’…what would you have done if something had gone wrong on the Apollo 8 flight that would have prevented you from coming back home?…’ He smiled and said…’…we had special rocket fuel to do one of two things, zoom our way back to Earth…or take a one way trip to Mars…it’s classified son…’…….I wonder if the Brandy was the ’secret’ fuel?… I do hope it was the good stuff…
Thanks for the inside scoop, and keep those quibbles coming!
