Apollo Astronaut on the Moon

[Doubting Thomas]

Dave's last post about Don Knotts was great! It reminded me that
the late Leslie Nielsen was co-star in "The Reluctant Astronaut" too.

By the way, is there a paper model of Barbara Eden's bottle? The one
that Astronaut "Captain Anthony Nelson" (Larry Hagman) supposedly
finds with a Jeannie in it...Barbara Eden.

[airdave]

In response to Post#114 showing the finished Glove...

is this story for real?
"Some astronauts report losing their fingernails on spacewalks because of bulky gloves"

[dhanners]

Originally Posted by airdave

In response to Post#114 showing the finished Glove...

is this story for real?
"Some astronauts report losing their fingernails on spacewalks because of bulky gloves"

I've heard and read that the gloves are really constricting and that at the very least, they cause a lot of strain and, at worst, they can hurt.

On "NOVA ScienceNOW" on PBS the other night, they had a segment dealing with designing future spacesuits, and they discussed gloves. Someone demonstrated how constricting the gloves are by wrapping a rubber band tightly around their hand. Not only did it look painful, but you could see how it would be hard to work with your hands that way.

Makes all the repairs to Hubble seem that much more miraculous....

[Spaceguy5]

I've at least never heard of that o.o...... But in one astronaut's autobiograpy, he said that someone (wouldn't name who) had a small leak in their glove that sucked on their hand, and left a very nasty sore.

[dhanners]

On ISS EVAs now, they routinely do glove inspections every few minutes. I forget what the exact interval is, but if you watch any of the EVAs on the NASA Channel for long enough, you'll hear someone on the ground remind them to inspect their gloves, and the astronauts will take a break and check the fingertips on each hand. It almost looks like they are counting on their fingers. I believe the inspections were instituted after some cuts were noted on fingertips, as well as some peeling RTV on some gloves.

[alfadoc]

Ever since the Hustler thread, I have followed kenlwest threads with great enthusiasm. You design on a grand scale; 1/33 Hustlers and Blackbirds? The only reason I have not jumped on these is that there is simply no place to put them! This design is no different. A great concept, beautifully executed. And the method of designing is brilliant as well. Well done!

[SAustin16]

On the subject of hand pain, I've read interviews with the Apollo astronauts who described that no matter how closely they trimmed their fingernails, their nails would be lifted away from the nail bed with each movement. Their fingers and hands were very sore after each EVA. Just another astronaut discomfort most people never think of ...including myself. One wonders what we do not hear about.

[dhanners]

Originally Posted by SAustin16

On the subject of hand pain, I've read interviews with the Apollo astronauts who described that no matter how closely they trimmed their fingernails, their nails would be lifted away from the nail bed with each movement. Their fingers and hands were very sore after each EVA. Just another astronaut discomfort most people never think of ...including myself. One wonders what we do not hear about.

Yeah, I think there's a lot they go through that we don't think about and they never tell us.

If you ever stumble across a copy of "Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft," buy it. It is part of the NASA History Series, and is 538 pages of gee-whiz amazing information. In the "gross" category, in the early days of spaceflight, astronauts developed what the psychologists called "psychotic constipation." Going to the bathroom was such a hassle that the astronauts decided to deal with it by not dealing with it. They tried to stop going to the bathroom. The only way to do that was to not eat, which of course is not a good thing because you need to eat to keep your energy up in you're a Steely-Eyed Rocket Man.

This is from page 268, talking about the flight of Apollo 7:

"The defecation bags, containing a germicide to prevent bacteria and gas formation, were easily sealed and stored in empty food containers in the equipment bay. But the bags were certainly not convenient and there were usually unpleasant odors. Each time they were used, it took the crew member from 45 to 60 minutes, causing him to postpone it as long as possible, waiting for a time when there was no work to do. The crew had a total of only 12 defecations over a period of nearly 11 days."

Ok. Back to our regular programming....

[kenlwest]

I read something about the astronauts having blue/purple fingernails after an EVA do to the amount of exertion it took to bend the fingers of the gloves.

The food they ate was formulated to limit the amount of waste, but maximize the amount of energy. Apparently it didn't work out so good (no pun intended).

I finished the left hand glove tonight. I need to create more "grip" in this one - to hold the flagpole. For now, this is just a mirror image of the right glove.

Maybe it's just the camera angle, but I need to do some anatomical measuring on the arms. They appear a little long - primate looking.... But some viewing angles look fine.

Ken

[airdave]

its interesting to compare some Space Suit designs....