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Author
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Topic: Use of Apollo hard suits on the moon
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Explorer1
Member Posts: 180
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 07-01-2019 12:56 AM
  
Before Apollos 18 and 19 were cancelled, there were plans to use an Apollo hard suit on those missions. The hard suits could be disassembled. But it seems to be their bulk would have taken up a lot of room on the lunar module. And were they flexible at the waist enough to allow the LM crew to use the lunar rover?Also, I'm assuming that the LM crew would have worn two types of suits on those missions — the A7 or A7LB intravehicular design for the command module portion of the mission, and the hard suits stored aboard the LM for the landing portion. Does anyone know more about this? |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1488
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 07-01-2019 09:28 AM
They wouldn't have carried two suits. |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 07-01-2019 10:03 AM
I have read that launch and reentry for these missions would have been in flight suits with only a pression helmet of a type similar to the clayshell helmet used from STS-5.
But I don't know how would be possible the deep space EVA, even the CMP had worn a A7LB suit only. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-01-2019 10:04 AM
According to "US Spacesuits" by Kenneth Thomas and Harold McMann, development of a hard suit was canceled in April 1968, two years before Apollo 18 and 19 were canceled in September 1970. As such, would logistics of flying a hard suit have even been decided by that point? |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1428
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 07-01-2019 06:48 PM
To say nothing of the Apollo 18 training pictures which might suggest it wasn't even on the radar. |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 07-01-2019 07:57 PM
I have read that the suit proposed for Apollo 18 and 19 was the AES (advanced extravehicular space suit) in Air&Space magazine and page 167 of the book "US Spacesuits." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-01-2019 08:44 PM
Both the Air&Space interview and "US Spacesuits" says the AES was a contender for use, but neither say it was chosen for Apollo 18 and 19. The latter says the suit was "aimed for" the later missions, but work was halted before those flights were canceled. |
Explorer1
Member Posts: 180
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 07-02-2019 06:04 AM
Carmelo, do you recall where you read that they were thinking of using just a pressure helmet for the CSM portion of the flight?And does anyone know why the AES suit was cancelled? |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 07-02-2019 08:38 AM
I have read that pressure helmet on flight suit was only for launch/reentry (as for the space shuttle a decade after).I have also read that was some discussions to test a AES suit in a Skylab mission (I think inside the workshop not in a EVA), but the thing was rejected. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 07-02-2019 11:23 AM
My guess, and this is only speculation on my part, was that the hard suits would have been part of the Apollo Application Program, Phase II of lunar exploration.These missions would have used two Saturn V's for each landing site, one to bring the equipment, rovers, flyers, and sophisticated ALSEPs to the lunar surface. The second Saturn V would have brought the CSM/LM and crew. Hard suits would have been useful as, say the mission to the Marius Hills, would have involved eight rover sorties and 8 flying sorties. Stay time on the lunar surface would have been measured in weeks. Planning for AAP (known as the Santa Cruz study) began during the summer of 1967, but was halted sometime in 1968 when Congressional Appropriations Hearings dried up funding for anything beyond the original Apollo program. Saturn V production also ceased in 1968 and was limited to the 15 vehicles of the original order. |
Explorer1
Member Posts: 180
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 07-03-2019 12:29 AM
Carmelo, do you recall where you read about the pressure helmet being used for the launch and reentry portions of the flight? |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 07-03-2019 04:20 PM
Don't forget the CMP had to have a full suit in case the docking tunnel was blocked and an emergency EVA had to be preformed. |
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