|
Author
|
Topic: Apollo stand-up extravehicular activity
|
Delta7
Member Posts: 1531
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
|
posted 02-15-2011 01:16 PM
   
Dave Scott performed a 30 minute Stand-up Extravehicular Activity (SEVA) from the overhead docking hatch of the Lunar Module Falcon, after the Apollo 15 landing. Why was there no SEVA on Apollo 16 or 17? |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
|
posted 02-15-2011 01:44 PM
Are there any pictures from this vantage point? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43671
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 02-15-2011 01:55 PM
Yes, go to the Apollo Archive, select Apollo 15 and scroll down to "Apollo 15 Stand-Up EVA (Scott) Photos."Or, visit the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal to see Magazine 85/LL (B&W), frames AS15-85-11353 through 11382. |
Space Cadet Carl
Member Posts: 230
From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006
|
posted 02-15-2011 05:17 PM
I do know Dave Scott and Jim Irwin formed a very close personal relationship with their training geologist Lee Silver before Apollo 15. Scott and Irwin bent over backwards during their flight to learn and accomplish everything they could for Lee Silver, including the SEVA. But likewise, I'd like to know why the SEVA wasn't done on 16 and 17. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43671
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 02-15-2011 05:43 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Why was there no SEVA on Apollo 16 or 17?
The timing of Apollo 15's landing meant that Scott and Irwin had already been awake for 11 hours. It wouldn't have been wise to then send them out on a full EVA but it would have also been unrealistic to expect them to go to sleep knowing the moon was just outside the window.The stand-up EVA filled the gap, while also allowing Scott to get a good idea of the landing site's geography in preparation for driving the lunar rover. Both Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 were scheduled such that the astronauts would depart on their first EVA soon after landing. And the Apollo 17 moonwalkers did just that. Apollo 16's astronauts would have as well, but their landing was delayed by six hours as they worked out a problem with the command module's engine control system. Young and Duke landed having been awake for 13 hours but having not planned for a stand-up EVA, they started their first outing the next day. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1334
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
|
posted 02-17-2011 02:49 AM
Does anyone know if Jim Irwin stuck his head out during the 30 minutes, just to have a look? Or was it all Dave Scott's show? |
golddog
Member Posts: 210
From: australia
Registered: Feb 2008
|
posted 02-17-2011 02:55 AM
No indication in either Scott or Irwin's books that occurred - but I reckon if I had been Irwin I would've! |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1651
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
|
posted 02-17-2011 07:36 AM
Irwin did not stick his head out for a look. In Irwin's autobiography To Rule The Night, page 61 he writes "He (Scott) offered me a chance to look out, but my umbilicals weren't long enough and I didn't want to take the time to rearrange them." |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
|
posted 02-17-2011 02:51 PM
How much of Scott stuck out of the hatch? Head, shoulders or mid chest? I didn't think the engine cover he stood on was all that tall. That raises and interesting question; if they had to make a emergency evacuation, could they have done so without the hatch being replaced? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43671
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 02-17-2011 03:00 PM
quote:
Originally posted by dabolton:
I didn't think the engine cover he stood on was all that tall.
According to his interview with the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, Scott found he didn't need to stand on anything. When I stood up in the top hatch, I found that, because of the one-sixth gravity, I could support myself on my elbows without having to stand on anything, and get fairly well out of the hatch. |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
|
posted 02-17-2011 03:16 PM
So Irwin just saw feet in the air, that would have been a funny picture. You'd think the edge of the hatch might have had exposed edges not conducive for a spacesuit when not in a docked configuration. With the limited volume inside the LM, where did they stow the hatch and docking mechanism? |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
|
posted 02-17-2011 03:41 PM
I think this answers my question. It looks like it was a fairly smoothed side tunnel out the top. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43671
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 02-17-2011 03:44 PM
quote:
Originally posted by dabolton:
With the limited volume inside the LM, where did they stow the hatch and docking mechanism?
Again, from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: ALSJ: Did the hatch swing down into the cabin and, if so, was it hinged at the back?Scott: Yeah, and there's a latch at the back (of the cabin) that locks it in, as I recall. This was a very easy procedure, relatively speaking, and it's interesting, when we got into it, how straight-forward it was - almost to the extent that the LM almost might have been designed to do this. ALSJ: After opening the hatch, Dave will sit on the engine cover and reach up to remove the docking drogue. Once he removes the drogue, he will hand it to Jim who, in turn, will put it on the floor on the left side of the cabin. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3337
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
|
posted 03-29-2016 09:31 AM
How many cameras were used during the SEVA?The ALSJ at 106:55:51 seems to indicate that three 70mm film cameras were used to take photos during the standup EVA by Dave Scott on Apollo 15: one 60mm lens B&W, one 60mm lens colour and one 500mm lens B&W. The "third camera" is mentioned at 106:57:23 on the same page. However, it looks like the 60mm B&W (Mag 85) and 60mm colour (Mag 87) photos were taken with the same camera. Both show a "38" reseau plate number, which is the LMP camera. AS15-85-11355
AS15-87-11732 So, only two cameras were used during the SEVA? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3337
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
|
posted 03-29-2016 01:58 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MCroft04:
Irwin did not stick his head out for a look.
True, but Irwin was wearing a LEVA helmet during the SEVA, according to the LM Lunar Surface Checklist: |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 679
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 04-27-2020 12:25 PM
I've been reading (mostly at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal) about Dave Scott and the Apollo 15 Stand Up EVA (SEVA). From these accounts the SEVA appears to have been a very successful and worthwhile reconnaissance effort justifying additional mission risk. However SEVAs were not performed on Apollo 16 or 17 and was wondering if anyone know why they were not. Were they even discussed as part of Apollo 16 or 17 planning? Editor's note: Threads merged. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 900
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 04-27-2020 03:15 PM
I am curious about this myself.I can see that perhaps a SEVA was not needed for Apollo 17 as that Taurus-Littrow site had been exquisitely mapped by Apollo 15 Panoramic and Metric cameras. Some of the first 3-D computer renders of an Apollo landing site were created for the Apollo 17 crew. As far as the Descartes landing site, I don't know. I would have thought a gung-ho astronaut like John Young would have insisted on doing a SEVA himself. Maybe the nature of the area made a SEVA unnecessary. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4215
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
|
posted 04-27-2020 06:47 PM
The Apollo 15 LM Falcon came to rest at an 11 degree tilt to the rear. 12 degrees was considered critical for a safe ascent. Was the SEVA a result of the inclination of the LM: to see whether there was a possibility the tilt could worsen? |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1640
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
|
posted 04-27-2020 06:51 PM
The SEVA seems to be Scott’s idea for two reasons: he wanted to avoid the navigation errors of the Apollo 14 crew on the surface and his embrace of the geography lessons. "Seeing the big picture" as it was called. |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1437
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
|
posted 04-27-2020 06:55 PM
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the 15 SEVA achieved little. |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1651
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
|
posted 04-27-2020 09:19 PM
Watch "Galileo Was Right" in the From the Earth to the Moon series. Dave Scott says that was a very realistic proxy for his mission. As a geologist I would advocate the Apollo 15 SEVA was valuable. |
advertisement