backpacks

before leaving the lunar surface the lunar backpacks were discarded ,
if the lem crew needed to do an emergancy space walk to get into the CM
what space suits or backpacks would be used

wrote:

before leaving the lunar surface the lunar backpacks were discarded ,
if the lem crew needed to do an emergancy space walk to get into the CM
what space suits or backpacks would be used

The upper portion of the backpack (the OPS, Oxygen Purge System) was not
discarded, it would hold enough oxygen for an emergency transfer. On the
last three missions (Apollo 15/16/17 - the "J missions"), the OPS was
also needed for the trans-Earth EVAs performed by the CMPs.


--

Brian Lawrence

Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK

"Brian Lawrence" wrote in message
...
wrote:

before leaving the lunar surface the lunar backpacks were discarded ,
if the lem crew needed to do an emergancy space walk to get into the CM
what space suits or backpacks would be used

The upper portion of the backpack (the OPS, Oxygen Purge System) was not
discarded, it would hold enough oxygen for an emergency transfer. On the
last three missions (Apollo 15/16/17 - the "J missions"), the OPS was
also needed for the trans-Earth EVAs performed by the CMPs.

In that role, it was still a backup, right? I thought all three astronauts
were on umbilicals during the trans-Earth EVA's, so that was their primary
source of O2 and cooling.

Jeff
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Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

wrote in message
oups.com...
before leaving the lunar surface the lunar backpacks were discarded ,
if the lem crew needed to do an emergancy space walk to get into the CM
what space suits or backpacks would be used

There were two pieces to the "backpacks". One was the main unit and the
other was a shorter duration unit intended for emergencies (in case the main
unit failed during a lunar EVA). The main unit was discarded on the lunar
surface, but the smaller unit was kept, for just such an emergency.

Thanks to Google and the web, here's a cool page showing details of the
units:

http://www.myspacemuseum.com/plss.htm

This diagram shows the two separate units:

http://www.myspacemuseum.com/apollo12.htm

Jeff
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Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

In article ,
Jeff Findley wrote:
last three missions (Apollo 15/16/17 - the "J missions"), the OPS was
also needed for the trans-Earth EVAs performed by the CMPs.

In that role, it was still a backup, right? I thought all three astronauts
were on umbilicals during the trans-Earth EVA's, so that was their primary
source of O2 and cooling.

Correct. The OPS was still just a backup (and was never in fact used).
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