Stuf4 writes:

From Ken Tucker:
In popular televised accounts the A13 3 astronauts had a problem with cold,
due to power conservation, but they aren't shown wearing their space suits to
keep warmer. Did they, if not why not?


My A13 spacesuit question is why didn't they suit up and do an EVA to
photograph and report on the damage?

Given that they'd lost most of their on-board oxygen and there was a real
question if they had enough to get back, dumping a cabin-full overboard
to try to take some pictures seems like a suicide move.


Years back I asked key decision makers involved (Kraft, Kranz, Lunney, Griffin,
etc) and I was told that they were simply focused on bringing the crew back
alive. Considering how there were still six more missions on the schedule,
this struck me as very short sighted. It certainly would have taken their mind
off the cold for several hours. It also would have put them back into a strong
sense of mission, and ideally it would have given great info on how to make
sure this wouldn't happen again. If they opened the hatch, stepped outside and
encountered anything that appeared that it might be a bad risk, then they
always had the option of aborting the EVA.

Why bother, they'd have already signed their death warrants.