[FPSPACE] JimO essay on 'myths of apollo-soyuz'

[CHARLES, JOHN B. (JSC-SL) (NASA)]

Leonov's amusing quip notwithstanding, there is no need to blame CIA for
failing to pick up on Bondarenko's death for Apollo 1 deaths.  There were
many object lessons within USA of injuries and death in oxygen fires in
chambers before Apollo 1.  (An incomplete list can be requested off-list.)
Indeed, Air Force technicians died in a chamber fire just 4 days after
Apollo fire!  If no learning occurred by then, why assume any Soviet
experience would have been well-received?

Other (more on-topic) questions:
(1) why were Soviets using pure oxygen in isolation chamber when they had
already made decision to use mixed-gas atmosphere in spacecraft?  (Vostok 1
was only a few weeks in the future.)  Was the testing not directly
flight-related? 
(2) if the testing was not directly flight-related, why were cosmonauts used
in non-standard tests?
(3) why was a hot-plate even available in pure oxygen chamber?
(4) why was Bondarenko using highly-inflammable cotton balls and alcohol to
remove electrodes even before the experiment was over?
(5) how many times had Soviets successfully completed such testing before
Bondarenko died?  (6) Did Soviets modify or een discontinue such activities
after Bondarenko died?

John Charles
On the road


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