[FPSPACE] Columbia report released...about the astronauts

[Kosmos327 at aol.com]

It seems to me that if the visors can't be down or the gloves on during  
reentry, that leaves a wide variety of scenarios in which the suits would be  more 
or less useless. 
 
I am also not an expert, but then given the performance of many of NASA's  
executive engineers during the past decade or so, neither are they.
 
David L. Rickman
 
 In a message dated 12/30/2008 5:27:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
MattWriter at aol.com writes:

In a message dated  12/30/08 2:38:06 PM, robert at collectspace.com writes:




The launch and entry suit was added in response to the  Challenger accident, 
rather than as a part of the original vehicle design.  The ACES was the 
successor to that suit. The suit protects the crew in many  scenarios; however, 
there are several areas where integration difficulties  diminish the capability of 
the suit to protect the crew. Integration issues  include: the crew cannot 
keep their visors down throughout entry because  doing so results in high oxygen 
concentrations in the cabin; gloves can  inhibit the performance of nominal 
tasks; and the cabin stow/deorbit  preparation timeframe is so busy that 
sometimes crew members do not have  enough time to complete suit-related steps prior 
to atmospheric  entry. 




I don't see how any of those is especially  difficult.  Granted, the 
engineering changes for a mod like this will not  be attempted now, with the shuttle 
scheduled for retirement, but the oxygen  level problem could be fixed by a 
tweak to the software running the  environmental control system (making it, 
essentially, run slightly less  efficiently during the last hour of flight), the 
timeline adjusted a few  minutes to permit the additional suit-related steps, 
and, as to the gloves,  the gloves of the ACES suit, like all pilot/astronaut 
pressure suits, are  specifically designed to permit use of the control stick 
and other critical  controls while fully pressurized.  The crew's actions would 
be less  efficient, but not prohibited.  

Thanks for pointing out that  input in the report, though.  I'm not saying I 
am right, just that I am  puzzled.  The folks who did this report and the 
Columbia and Challenger  ones are infinitely more qualified than I am, but I just 
don't get  this.

Matt Bille
Freeelance space/science  writer
http://mattbille.blogspot.com


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