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Author
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Topic: Neil Armstrong's PLSS design drawings
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holcombeyates
Member Posts: 266
From: UK
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted 07-14-2020 08:46 AM
   
Almost two years ago I acquired at one of the Armstrong Heritage auctions half a dozen acetate overhead projector slides (remember those!) – an analogue version of PowerPoint — drawn by Neil Armstrong when he was a professor of aeronautical engineering in the 1970s. Some of the slides even have his fingerprints on them.
Neil had decided to use the design and development of the Apollo Portable Life Support System (PLSS) as an example of good engineering systems design in one of his lecture programmes.
Delighted that I had a piece of (unblown) Armstrong history in my collection, I started some research on the design of the PLSS and found some NASA papers that covered its design and some that covered the operational performance results and the later upgrades. There did not seem to be one summary paper that spanned all aspects.
From this and using the slides together with some photos kindly loaned by permission from the Smithsonian, came a 10,000+ word article. It took me a long time to write.
My motivation was in part to understand more about this key (and often overlooked), piece of innovative technology and also with the hope that it would provide inspiration to the next generation of scientists and engineers by providing an insight to what is possible and what can be achieved through dedication and teamwork.This 13 page article has just been published in the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) Space Chronicle. This is the sister publication to the excellent monthly magazine "Spaceflight." It is available hard copy and as a PDF.
Scans from of a couple of Neil's original acetate slides are included below, more are in the article. The slides are unique and form some of the most treasured parts of my space artefact collection.
I am delighted to share this with collectSPACE and hope that you enjoy reading it.
It is also I hope a constructive way of bringing life and context to Apollo-era artefacts. I have started writing a number of these articles and really enjoying it. All feedback welcome!  
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