sds@nwnexus.WA.COM (Sean Shapira) (12/14/89)
In article <37867@ames.arc.nasa.gov> "Shuttle Status for 12/11/89" NASA wrote: > STS- 32 - COLUMBIA (OV 102) - PAD 39-A > Two contingency extravehicular mobility units or space suits > have been installed and checked out in Columbia's airlock. Would someone familiar with the STS-32 mission plan describe the contingency which would require use of these "extravehicular mobility units"? Thanks, ---- Sean Shapira, seans@microsoft.uucp or sds@nwnexus.wa.com ----
hogg@db.toronto.edu (John Hogg) (12/15/89)
In article <219@nwnexus.WA.COM> seans@microsoft.UUCP (Sean Shapira) writes: >Would someone familiar with the STS-32 mission plan describe the >contingency which would require use of these "extravehicular mobility >units"? Space suits are flown on every mission. The most obvious emergency would be tile inspection and repair, if damage was suspected for some reason. An STS-32-specific problem would be a failure of SYNCOM to properly deploy; a human could apply a Volkov-style kick to various places, until the mechanism either worked or was *really* broken. A Shuttle is complicated enough that many pieces could potentially require in-flight inspection and repair. Whether *two* suits are worthwhile is another question. -- John Hogg hogg@csri.utoronto.ca Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall) (12/15/89)
In article <1989Dec14.172417.24626@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> hogg@db.toronto.edu (John Hogg) writes:
: A Shuttle is complicated enough that many pieces could potentially
: require in-flight inspection and repair. Whether *two* suits are
: worthwhile is another question.
At least two considerations here. One, if our flight is volume limited
rather than weight limited, we're not penalized at all. Two, even if we're
weight limited, I'd be a lot happier as a space walker if I thought it was
at all possible to rescue me. I doubt it is possible with a single suit.
It might just be possible to maneuver the shuttle lock around a comatose
astronaut, but I doubt that they could close the outer door from inside
the cabin. Anybody know fer sure?
Larry Wall
lwall@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.govhenry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (12/15/89)
In article <219@nwnexus.WA.COM> seans@microsoft.UUCP (Sean Shapira) writes: >Would someone familiar with the STS-32 mission plan describe the >contingency which would require use of these "extravehicular mobility >units"? The classic EVA-requiring emergency is being unable to get the cargo bay doors closed properly. There is a hand-crank procedure for emergencies. Various other possibilities arise when deploying one satellite and picking up another. As seen on the Solar Max repair and the Palapa/Westar retrieval, the nifty gadgets don't always work. As seen on the P/W retrieval, the Syncom repair, and the Skylab solar-array deployment, human muscle and simple tools are much more robust in the face of trouble. (As demonstrated by Nelson, brute-force improvisation doesn't always work. As demonstrated by Volkov, sometimes it *does*.) -- 1755 EST, Dec 14, 1972: human | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology exploration of space terminates| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu