What immediate, life-threatening condition arose from the three crew members breathing inside the constrained Lunar Module?
Answer
Buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2)
With the Command Module life support unavailable, the three astronauts were entirely reliant on the Lunar Module's systems, which were not designed for prolonged occupancy by three people. A critical and immediate threat, second only to power depletion, was the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaled by the crew. The LM possessed only a finite supply of lithium hydroxide canisters designed to chemically scrub this toxic gas from the cabin air, and these reserves were insufficient for the protracted return journey, necessitating urgent engineering intervention from Mission Control.
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