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Author
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Topic: Gemini 9A Astronaut Mobility Unit (AMU)
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collocation
Member Posts: 387
From: McLean, VA
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-27-2007 09:01 PM
   
Any good drawings or references for the Astronaut Mobility Unit (AMU) that Gene Cernan was going to use during his spacewalk on Gemini 9A? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 48899
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-27-2007 09:19 PM
The Gemini Astronaut Maneuvering Unit Ready Reference Handbook was online until late 2005, early 2006. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine saved most, if not all of its pages and images, which can be accessed here.Around the same time as that website went offline, I helped a cS reader sell his two AMUs, one flight configuration unit and a trainer. The flight unit is now on display at the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Oklahoma. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton also had a unit on display. |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 642
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 07-30-2007 02:18 PM
It's too bad the original isn't still online because it had some nice drawings. |
mikej
Member Posts: 483
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 08-01-2007 06:47 AM
There are a number of drawings, photographs, and schematics of the AMU in Manned Space-Flight Experiments, Gemini IX Mission Interim Report, starting at page 75 of the PDF file; the discussion of the AMU and how it was to be used in the mission starts at page 54 of the PDF. The photos in this doc are much better than your standard NTRS-scanned-report fare. |
Gordon Eliot Reade
Member Posts: 173
From: Palo Alto, Calif.
Registered: Jun 2015
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posted 08-20-2022 09:04 AM
In his novels "Islands in the Sky" (1952) and "Earthlight" (1955), Arthur Clarke explained that spacesuits used for Earth orbit EVAs wouldn't have legs or pants. Rather they'd have one tube shaped opening like a sleeping bag. The reason was obvious. Legs are used for walking and being weightless an astronaut wouldn't need legs any more than he'd need a tail. I sometimes wonder if, perhaps unintentionally, this idea influenced the NASA mission planers for Gene Cernan's Gemini 9A spacewalk. Cernan was scheduled to move to the back of the spacecraft and strap on a conveniently located Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). He would then zip around like Buck Rogers on his rocket belt. In hindsight this seems ridiculously dangerous particularly considering that this was only America's second EVA. But mission planners reasoned it shouldn't be any great challenge. Cernan would be weightless and so it shouldn't be difficult for him to move about freely. Your thoughts and opinions? Editor's note: Threads merged. |
oly
Member Posts: 1406
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 08-20-2022 09:23 AM
Given that Cernan had to walk on Earth wearing his Gemini spacesuit, the need for a two-legged spacesuit was critical. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1110
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 08-20-2022 10:25 AM
I wonder if this idea of Clarke's was the inspiration for the "bottle suits" depicted in the animated Walt Disney Tomorrowland Series Space and Beyond from the mid-1950s? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 48899
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-20-2022 12:26 PM
Development of the AMU started in 1959, seven years before Gemini 9 launched. It was not something quickly thrown together like the handheld maneuvering unit flown on Gemini 4. The AMU was an Air Force experiment built in conjunction with LTV Aerospace, with later support by NASA. quote:
Originally posted by Gordon Eliot Reade:
He would then zip around like Buck Rogers on his rocket belt.
Nothing of the sort. Every move with the AMU was planned to be a cautious test with checks built into each step before proceeding on to the next move. Cernan would have been tethered to the Gemini spacecraft for at least part of time, in case the AMU failed. In fact, one of the tests planned had Cernan simulating an AMU failure and having the Gemini fly the 40 feet (the length of his tether) to him to demonstrate an EVA rescue. In hindsight, the AMU can be viewed as too ambitious a step, but so was just about every other action taken during the Mercury and Gemini programs (including the Gemini 4 and Gemini 9 EVAs themselves). It was probably a good thing that Cernan's suit failed such that the AMU test was not possible, but it represented the best understanding of how to maneuver in space at the time. |
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