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  Ed Mitchell's post-Apollo 14 EVA suit tests

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Author Topic:   Ed Mitchell's post-Apollo 14 EVA suit tests
LM-12
Member

Posts: 3733
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 02-21-2023 09:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
During EVA-2 on Apollo 14, Ed Mitchell was having difficulty with his right glove. He described the problem this way in the post flight debriefing:
MITCHELL: I discovered this at that point — I don't know when it occurred — my right glove wanted to move to the left and down whenever I relaxed pressure on it. In order to move it back to normal working position, it took a great deal of effort. Anytime I'd relax, it would snap over to that position. It caused quite a bit of a problem during EVA-2. It limited to a great extent the amount of things I could do with my right hand without tiring. I could do most anything but it was just slow and tedious to do it. Outside of that, there was no other major effect of the glove problem. We brought back the glove. You just have to look at it and see what the problem was.

Yes, after I said broke I wasn't sure that's what I really meant. I didn't know what had happened to it, but it was not performing as it should have.

After the mission, his EVA suit was taken to ILC for post-flight testing to study the problem. There, Mitchell wore his dusty suit, helmet and gloves. The suit was pressurized. (I don't know what date that was.)

The mission report has this about the post-flight testing of Mitchell's right glove:

Purpose: To investigate operational difficulties experienced with the Lunar Module Pilot's pressure garment assembly.

Tests performed: Inspect gloves for possible wrist cable damage. Perform pressure garment assembly evaluation of suited pressure with Lunar Module Pilot.

Results: No wrist cable damage was found. The problem was duplicated in a test with the Lunar Module Pilot suited. Test not complete.

LM-12
Member

Posts: 3733
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 02-22-2023 10:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Anomaly Report (Section 14) has a few more details:
After suit pressurization for the second extravehicular activity, the Lunar Module Pilot reported that his right glove had pulled his hand to the left and down and that he had not had this trouble during the first extravehicular activity period. The condition was a nuisance throughout the second extravehicular activity period. Initial indications from the Lunar Module Pilot were that a cable had broken in the glove.

A detailed examination of the returned glove, together with chamber tests, have shown that there are no broken cables and that there is free operation of the glove wrist-control cable system. However, with the Lunar Module Pilot in the pressurized flight suit, the glove took the position which was reported during the mission.

The wrist control assembly provides a free moving structural interface between the glove and the wrist disconnect so as to assure convolute action for wrist movement in the pressurized state. The design inherently allows the glove to take various neutral positions.

This anomaly is closed.

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