Lunar Module Contingencies

I have heard the LM was so thin, in order to keep weight down, that it
may have been possible for the astronauts to puncture it by something
as mere as a pencil. If that had happened, and they had had their
suits on, is it a safe assumption that they would have been able to
blast off, rendezvous, and effect a transfer to the CM?

wrote:

I have heard the LM was so thin, in order to keep weight down, that it
may have been possible for the astronauts to puncture it by something
as mere as a pencil. If that had happened, and they had had their
suits on, is it a safe assumption that they would have been able to
blast off, rendezvous, and effect a transfer to the CM?

I can only speculate, but it takes specialized electronics to operate in a
vacuum, since you have no air to dissipate heat. So it would have to be in
the specs for the LM. Other than that, I see no obstacle. It would
probably cost a lot of air to get back into the CM

I've seen a proposal wherein a suited person would ascend strapped to the
front of a vehicle out in the open. I guess the crew could even act as a
docking system, using outstretched hands. :-)

Mike Ross

"Mike Ross" wrote in message
. ..
wrote:

I have heard the LM was so thin, in order to keep weight down, that it
may have been possible for the astronauts to puncture it by something
as mere as a pencil. If that had happened, and they had had their
suits on, is it a safe assumption that they would have been able to
blast off, rendezvous, and effect a transfer to the CM?

I can only speculate, but it takes specialized electronics to operate in a
vacuum, since you have no air to dissipate heat. So it would have to be
in
the specs for the LM. Other than that, I see no obstacle. It would
probably cost a lot of air to get back into the CM

Considering both the CM and LM wer used for EVs, vacuum operation was in the
specs.


I've seen a proposal wherein a suited person would ascend strapped to the
front of a vehicle out in the open. I guess the crew could even act as a
docking system, using outstretched hands. :-)

Mark I eyeball and Mark I hands (albeit gloved) all the way man.


Mike Ross




--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting Remote and Onsite available!
Email: sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com/sqlserver.html

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 07:19:33 -0500, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:


Considering both the CM and LM wer used for EVs, vacuum operation was in the
specs.

For the LM was it Apollo 9 by chance, just a guess?
Any particulars? What was the reason for an EV with the LM?

wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 07:19:33 -0500, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

Considering both the CM and LM wer used for EVs, vacuum operation was in the
specs.

For the LM was it Apollo 9 by chance, just a guess?

Apollo 9 was one of them, sure.

Any particulars? What was the reason for an EV with the LM?

All of the landing flights performed lunar surface EVAs.

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message
...
wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 07:19:33 -0500, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

Considering both the CM and LM wer used for EVs, vacuum operation was in
the specs.

For the LM was it Apollo 9 by chance, just a guess?

Apollo 9 was one of them, sure.

Any particulars? What was the reason for an EV with the LM?

All of the landing flights performed lunar surface EVAs.


And in addition, the CM on Apollo 9 and 16 and 17. And I believe Skylab 2.




--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting Remote and Onsite available!
Email: sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com/sqlserver.html

wrote:
I have heard the LM was so thin, in order to keep weight down, that it
may have been possible for the astronauts to puncture it by something
as mere as a pencil. If that had happened, and they had had their
suits on, is it a safe assumption that they would have been able to
blast off, rendezvous, and effect a transfer to the CM?


It would have been a lot simpler to put a patch over the hole. IIRC,
they did have those aboard.
In the lox pressure O2 environment, a thing as small as a hole made by a
pencil (I always heard the puncturing thing as being a screwdriver, not
pencil) would take a long time to depressurize the cabin.

Pat

Pat Flannery writes:

It would have been a lot simpler to put a patch over the hole. IIRC,
they did have those aboard.
In the lox pressure O2 environment, a thing as small as a hole made by a
pencil (I always heard the puncturing thing as being a screwdriver, not
pencil) would take a long time to depressurize the cabin.

Were the walls really bare? It seems a layer of lightweight foam or
cloth would help quite a bit with preventing punctures...

Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Were the walls really bare? It seems a layer of lightweight foam or
cloth would help quite a bit with preventing punctures...

That sounds logical and fairly lightweight also.
This photo of a cutaway LM cabin shows most of the cabin interior being
covered with equipment of one sort or another, with little of the cabin
wall proper exposed http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LMSimulator.jpg
I imagine the floor had some sort of covering on it both for durability
and traction when on the Moon's surface.

Pat

Pat Flannery writes:

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Were the walls really bare? It seems a layer of lightweight foam or
cloth would help quite a bit with preventing punctures...

That sounds logical and fairly lightweight also.
This photo of a cutaway LM cabin shows most of the cabin interior being
covered with equipment of one sort or another, with little of the cabin
wall proper exposed http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LMSimulator.jpg

OK, it looks as if it might have been not that easy to actually find a
spot to poke a screwdriver through the wall.

I imagine the floor had some sort of covering on it both for durability
and traction when on the Moon's surface.

A carpet with little NASA emblems on it? ;-)


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery