Timeline for If the astronauts on Apollo 11 had landed safely on the moon but could not take off, would there have been a rescue mission?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
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| Jun 2, 2017 at 9:44 | comment | added | Uwe | @Russell Borogove: swaping umbilicals could be avoided by using splitters to connect two suits to one plug. But these splitters should be designed and build in a hurry just before the start of the rescue mission. The life support system should deliver an oxygen flow rate sufficient for four instead of two astronauts. | |
| May 30, 2017 at 13:11 | history | edited | Russell Borogove | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 30, 2017 at 6:03 | comment | added | aroth | "but there would be no air on the other sides to insulate it from radiating all its heat away" - Vacuum insulated much, much better than air. | |
| May 29, 2017 at 22:57 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | That would depend entirely on the failure mode that stranded the first lander. | |
| May 29, 2017 at 21:19 | comment | added | kasperd | Another caveat: With a 100% failure rate on take off from the Moon so far it would have been considered very risky to land another person on the Moon. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 22:50 | comment | added | Scott | From tragic Kerbel Space Program Experience. Never set the precise location of the stranded lander as your destination. That's how you get two stranded landers and have to mount another rescue mission. Set a point a few meters away! | |
| May 24, 2017 at 22:10 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | @ErinAnne Here's the "rescue CSM" info: astronautix.com/a/apollorescuecsm.html | |
| May 24, 2017 at 22:08 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | @Uwe Yeah, it would be risky at best. LMP-2 disconnects, LMP-1 plugs in, the two LMPs try to get LMP-1's PLSS off, CDR-2 watches LMP-2's face and swaps umbilicals when he sees LMP-2 start to fade, all of this in a very cramped space. Maybe not doable. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 22:05 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | @ErinAnne In this scenario, the first crew still has a good CSM in lunar orbit; two rendezvous would be doable in order to get all the crew into their own ships. I think there was a proposal for a rescue version of the CM with room for another one or two crewmen in the lower equipment bay, but never developed. If my choices are certain death on the moon or laying across my buddies' laps for a 6G reentry, I'll take the chance... | |
| May 24, 2017 at 20:41 | comment | added | Erin Anne | Re crew transfer: Regardless of whether it's possible to get four crew inside a CM, unless there are four seats rigged up I don't think EDL will be safely accomplished for the fourth. I'm not sure if there were ever any provisions for rescue seats in the CM? | |
| May 24, 2017 at 20:03 | comment | added | Uwe | @Russell Borogove: A disconnected suit would contain a lot of oxygen, but without forced circulation of oxygen, only the oxygen in the helmet could be used for breathing. There should not only be enough oxygen to breathe, the level of the exhaled carbon dioxide should be lower than about 8 %. But the exhaled oxygen contains about 4 % of carbon dioxide. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 16:00 | comment | added | user | @Polyergic The LM was built to maintain a comfortable temperature with the electronics on. If you are dumping heat into radiators and there's nothing to heat the interior, then the interior will cool off (as 13 demonstrated), and there was apparently no way to seal the circulation into the radiators (otherwise I don't see why it wasn't done). Though I wonder if keeping some, but not all, electrical loads turned off (to reduce the battery load), and starting a PTC roll, would have been sufficient to maintain heat distribution and maybe even provide a better environment for the crew members. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 15:57 | comment | added | user | We have already discussed and concluded that a single crew member could fly the LM. Admittedly, that question is about ascent, whereas this would be about descent. Absent problems during the descent, though, I suspect the two situations would be similar. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 15:21 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | @Uwe Good point. Maybe pairs of crew could alternate connection to the cabin environmental system for a minute at a time during the transfer -- the suit air wouldn't go bad immediately when disconnected. Once transfer was complete, they could repress and would only have to manage for a short period of time after that. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 15:17 | comment | added | ShadSterling | Air is not as good an insulator as vacuum. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 15:05 | comment | added | Uwe | I don't believe the cabin environmental system did have connections for up to three or even four suited astronauts. Apollo 13 only demonstrated that three people without suits would fit in the LM. | |
| May 24, 2017 at 14:54 | history | edited | Russell Borogove | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 24, 2017 at 14:46 | history | answered | Russell Borogove | CC BY-SA 3.0 |