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Author
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Topic: Apollo 9: Original spacewalk (EVA) plan
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Delta7
Member Posts: 1527
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-26-2010 08:02 AM
   
According to the original plan for Rusty Schweikart's EVA (cut short due to his early bout with nausea and vomiting), he was supposed to have worked his way over to the open hatch of the command module (CM), demonstrating the emergency EVA crew transfer procedure. Was he then supposed to have returned to the lunar module (LM), or join Scott in the CM and end the EVA there? |
jasonelam
Member Posts: 691
From: Monticello, KY USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 08-26-2010 08:57 AM
According to the Apollo 9 press kit, the EVA was to involve Rusty going from the LM to the CM, partially enter the hatch, collect samples from the exterior of the CM (which Dave Scott did in the acutal EVA), then return to the LM to test the golden slippers and re-enter the LM. |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 08-26-2010 09:17 AM
This timeline is also mentioned in Live TV From the Moon, the book about the Apollo TV systems. It includes an excellent diagram of what Rusty would have photographed during the EVA. |
Spacefest
Member Posts: 1168
From: Tucson, AZ
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 08-26-2010 12:56 PM
Astronaut Central has the actual flown LM-EVA cue card checklist, sale pending. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 08-29-2010 07:48 PM
Something I'v always wondered about, was the hatch on the connecting tunnel between the LM and CM open or closed during the EVA? |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 09-01-2010 05:57 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
According to the original plan for Rusty Schweikart's EVA (cut short due to his early bout with nausea and vomiting), he was supposed to have worked his way over to the open hatch of the command module (CM), demonstrating the emergency EVA crew transfer procedure.
I'm intrigued. When was this plan formulated and when did Slayton go back on his objections to LM/CM transfers even in an emergency situation?From a memo Slayton sent to Shea on 6th December 1966: MSC Director of Flight Crew Operations Donald K. Slayton pointed out to ASPO Manager Joseph F. Shea that LM-to-CSM crew rescue was impossible. Slayton said there was no way for the portable life support system and crewman to traverse from the LM front hatch to the CSM side hatch in zero-g docked operations, because there was no restraint system or tether attach points in the vicinity of the CSM hatch to permit the crewman to stabilize himself and work to open the hatch; and there was no way to control the Apollo inner hatch (35-43 kilograms) to ensure that it would not inadvertently damage its seals, the spacecraft wiring, or the pressure bulkhead. Slayton added that several spacecraft changes, additional training hardware for valid thermal testing, zero-g simulator demonstration, and crew training effort would be required to permit extravehicular crew rescue from LM to CSM. Until this total rescue capability was implemented, manned LM to CSM operations would constitute an unnecessary risk for the flight crew. |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 09-01-2010 06:05 AM
...there was no way to control the Apollo inner hatch (35-43 kilograms) to ensure that it would not inadvertently damage its seals, the spacecraft wiring, or the pressure bulkhead. I'm confused by this. Wasn't the hatch opened and closed successfully on all three missions that featured deep space EVAs, and wouldn't the weight be a non-issue in zero G? |
space1
Member Posts: 861
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 09-01-2010 06:20 AM
Given the date of the memo (December 1966) Slayton would be referring to the Block I hatch. The Block II hatch (designed after the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967) was a complete redesign, combining the two-piece original hatch into a "unified" design. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 09-01-2010 10:22 AM
And there was no way to control the Apollo inner hatch. Slayton had to be referring to the Block I CSM. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 09-01-2010 02:25 PM
As I understand it, there were also some contingency plans drawn up to use the pully system for sending lunar samples up into the LM from the surface as a guide tether of sorts for the astronauts to rope climb if they had to do this sort of space walk.One thing I was never entirely clear on is if the CDR and LMP would be doing this with just their chest pack backup oxygen supplies or if they would use the PLSS packs. Reason being is one could not fully enter the command module with a PLSS as it would take up so much room. So if they did the walk back to the CSM with the PLSS, they would then need to cut loose the PLSS pack before entry. |
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