posted 06-04-2009 03:42 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by nasamad:
I'm sure I remember a chute hanging on the wall of the space gallery in the London Science Museum about 20-25 years ago. Can't vouch for it being flown though.

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There was also one on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England in the 1980s, although no longer.

posted 06-21-2009 06:57 PM               

It does seem on balance, the majority of main parachute canopies were never recovered.

Some interesting comments offered by a couple of recovery team members:

NASA recovery team:

Bob - not much info from here although I do remember on one or two ships I was on we picked up a chute or two but do not recall details. Also know on a later one or two missions ( as noted in your email ) some chutes were picked up. Historically I do know we never encouraged chute retrieval for we believed it might endanger swimmers from entanglement plus we never believed it a highly desirable requirement.

— John

Navy recovery team (Apollo 10 and Apollo 13):

I'll hitchhike on John's email to add one more thought. The first swimmers we launched were tasked with moving the chutes out of the working area. We wanted to make certain one of them didn't "blossom" and get in a tail rotor. A remote possibility, but one that could worry you the whole day.

— Chuck

posted 06-22-2009 04:21 PM               

In retrospect, these collective reports make NASM's decision to destroy 6 of the 9 parachutes transferred to them from JSC very short-sighted.

I know that on Apollo 10 none were recovered. We just watched as those babies sank. Apollo 10 was a picture perfect recovery because I was in charge. Just kidding. But truly, the ship was right on target and the swimmers were on station in helicopters when the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere. We just watched as that comet burned through. It was truly spectacular. Finally, we spotted the spacecraft under 3 parachutes and were literally flying around it awaiting splashdown. I don't believe Apollo 10 ever went into Stable 2. It stayed in Stable 1 after splashdown. Anyway, in regards to the parachutes, once splashdown occurs, the parachutes deflate quickly and start to submerge right away.

There is no bouyancy. Parachute material breathes so water penetrates it quickly. The time from splashdown to parachute submersion and disappearance is fairly quick. There were no instructions to retrieve parachutes and parachute retrieval was never part of our at-sea rehearsals. Believe me, if retrieving parachutes were part of the mission, it would have been rehearsed by the crew in the whale boat launched from the ship.

Parachutes were not retrieved on Apollo 11 and I don't recall any similar effort on Apollo 6. Perhaps on other missions they were retrieved. I know our focus was on the spacecraft, stablizing it with the collar, and then retrieving those astronauts. Retrieving parachutes could serve as a major distraction, I don't know. -Wes

posted 08-05-2009 08:50 AM               

Since the main parachutes are not interconnected and the canopies have slightly negative boyancy, they willl float in the area for only 10 minutes before sinking.

Main Parachute Recovery:

(a) Since safe recovery of the crew and the CM is of the utmost importance, helicopters should become involved with main parachute recovery only to the extent of deploying the grappling hook on-man lift raft packages.

(b) As the helicopters approach the CM, they may deploy the grappling hook packages. An appropriate time to do this would be during CM uprighting, Under no circumstances should crew recovery be delayed for ELS (Earth Landing System) component recovery.

(c) As the helicopter is hovering over a visible chute, a crew member opens the grappling hook/one-man life raft package. The raft end is secured within the helicopter and the grappling hook protective covers are removed. The hook is thrown out of the hatch to fall among or below the main parachute shroud lines, or preferably, the canopy. The raft is inflated and deployed.

(d) After the flight crew has been recovered, helicopters may direct small boat crews to the snagged main parachutes. Boat crews should attempt to spill the submerged canopies but cutting half of the shroud lines or the adjacent riser extensions, NASA storage bags are provided to stow the parachutes in as they are recovered.

(e) If the main parachute shroud lines have collapsed onto the CM, a one-man raft should be attached to the parachute. Then the shroud lines should be cut near the water -- the lines on the CM remaining undisturbed. Should any of the ELS components be damaged during retrieval, its is important that a NASA representative be informed.

Three canopies awaiting recovery on New Orleans - notice the one-man life-rafts which were used for ensnarement and floation of the chutes. Also visible is one of the green NASA recovery bag used to stow the left most canopy in the below image.

posted 03-22-2014 10:53 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LM-12:
One of the recovery helicopters was struck by a piece of drogue parachute reefing line during the splashdown of CM-116 and the first Skylab crew.

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posted 03-22-2014 11:49 PM            

• one main parachute was recovered on Apollo 15; the forward heat shield was also recovered
  
• all three main parachutes were recovered on Apollo 16
  
• all three main parachutes were recovered on Apollo 17; the forward heat shield was also recovered

posted 11-22-2020 05:34 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by SpaceAholic:
Reefing system guillotine pouch. The Apollo main parachute had a two stage reefing system to incrementally open the main canopy...

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There were four of these cutters installed in four pockets on the main canopy, two each servicing the two reefing lines as part of a two stage system to reduce deployment canopy shock load. Each of the reefing lines were routed around the circumference of the canopy passing through two each of the cutters.

The sear activated cutters were initiated by a time delayed charge upon extraction of the main parachute from the deployment bag. One reefing line was routed through cutters with a 6 second delay, the other set a 10 second delay.