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Author
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Topic: Apollo command module pilots entering the LM
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Pitulfsatten
New Member Posts: 4
From: Oslo Norway
Registered: Jul 2013
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posted 07-15-2013 09:56 AM
   
This may be a weird question, but I always wondered if the command module pilots ever entered the lunar module during the missions. Well, of course Swigert did, but what about the other eight? |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-15-2013 07:52 PM
I don't know the answer to this question, but I can't help thinking that the very last thing a CMP would have wanted to do was to risk causing damage to the lunar module by entering it unnecessarily. ("Uh, Mike, I'm afraid that WAS a vital switch you bumped into and broke. Neil and Buzz...bad news, guys, the landing can't proceed...") |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 07-15-2013 07:58 PM
Surely there must have been some training associated with the CM entering the LM to help with disabled crew or other breakdowns. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 07-16-2013 01:36 AM
Perhaps helping to transfer the boxes of lunar samples? |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-16-2013 04:27 PM
In one of those scenarios, the LM has returned from a successful landing. In the other scenario, there is some kind of mission-threatening problem and the safety of the LM itself is of lesser importance. I would be surprised to find any evidence of any plan for a CMP to enter the LM during a nominal mission prior to CSM-LM separation in lunar orbit. By the way, this wasn't a "weird" question, it was a great question. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1527
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 07-16-2013 10:15 PM
Maybe someone should ask one of the CMPs... |
Pitulfsatten
New Member Posts: 4
From: Oslo Norway
Registered: Jul 2013
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posted 07-19-2013 05:26 AM
Thanks for replying, folks. Well, asking the CMPs themselves would of course be the best of ideas, but I don't know how to get in touch with them. I live in Norway, just popping in on them is not the most obvious option under the circumstances.In fact I have met Buzz, Ed Mitchell and Jack Schmitt at the University of Oslo (handshaked the two latter, great moments)To bad I didn't ask them back them, but I just hadn't thought of the question yet. And of course they were all LMPs, so it wouldn't be first hand information anyway. But I have mailed Dick Gordon. Hope he will respond. Of course I'll share the whatever he has to say with you. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 07-24-2013 12:17 PM
Well... one "item" I can think of where a CMP might enter a LM on the flight to the moon would be to do a bowel movement since it was a rather large sized and potentially private spot as opposed to taking a crap in a bag in the lower equipment bay of the CSM. Although I suppose if a CMP HAD to go, the CDR and LMP would find "something" to do in the LM (or the CDR would be manning the CM's pilot seat at the time).Part of what got me thinking about it was a scene in "From the Earth to the Moon" where Conrad is ordering Bean to go "down there" and make a poop so they didn't waste any excess time on the surface with gravity producing a bowel movement. Now I do not know how much of that was reality based since it was a drama miniseries after all and not a documentary. But, I do have to wonder. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-24-2013 02:47 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Jay Chladek:
Well... one "item" I can think of where a CMP might enter a LM on the flight to the moon would be to do a bowel movement since it was a rather large sized and potentially private spot as opposed to taking a crap in a bag in the lower equipment bay...
I refer you to my first post on 15th July. |
Besixdouze
Member Posts: 236
From: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 07-24-2013 04:16 PM
There's an interesting exchange between Conrad, Gordon and Gerry Carr found in David Harland's excellent "Apollo 12: On the Ocean of Storms." "Pete," Carr called, "are you going to let Dick get any LM time?" "He's been in and out with us," Conrad replied. "They have got to let me get LM time, Gerry," Gordon quipped, "since they get command module time." "That's right." Carr agreed. "Equal time." |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-24-2013 06:54 PM
That sounds like a SUPERVISED visit, commander's responsibility. |
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