On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 00:11:25 +0000 (UTC), "Dave Kenworthy"
wrote:

In 1969, an Apollo-era space toilet brush was used as an improvised APS ARM
circuit breaker prior to Eagle's lunar lift-off. The year after, during the
flight of Apollo 13, it became apparent that the CM and LM brushes were
incompatible (the CM brush being designed for a square hole), and a
jury-rigged adapter had to be created on the fly. Additional LM brushes were
carried on subsequent flights.

There are doubtless many other such stories.

....Yeah, for starters Al Bean left the brush outside the LM in the
sun, and it melted. Later, the A14 STB failed to operate properly
according to standard procedures. The crew had to hold the brush
stationary, while the CMP used his thruster quads to vibrate the CSM
stack with sufficient force to dislodge the fecal matter that the
brush refused to budge. On A17, the STB actually broke, and the CDR
had to repair it with two C-clamps and some duct tape.

....On the other hand, the STB had one serious success story. On A15,
it was used in conjunction with a Falcon feather to prove Gallileo's
theory that gravity was a constant.

OM

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