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Space Rescue Ensuring the Safety of Manned Space¯ight David J. Shayler Space Rescue Ensuring the Safety of Manned Spaceflight Published in association with Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK David J. Shayler Astronautical Historian Astro Info Service Halesowen West Midlands UK Front cover illustrations: (Main image) Early artist's impression of the land recovery of the Crew Exploration Vehicle. (Inset) Artist's impression of a launch abort test for the CEV under the Constellation Program. Back cover illustrations: (Left) Airborne drop test of a Crew Rescue Vehicle proposed for ISS. (Center) Water egress training for Shuttle astronauts. (Right) Beach abort test of a Launch Escape System. SPRINGER±PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. ISBN 978-0-387-69905-9 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Springer is part of Springer-Science + Business Media (springer.com) Library of Congress Control Number: 2008934752 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. # Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2009 Printed in Germany The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci®c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Jim Wilkie Project management: Originator Publishing Services, Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK Printed on acid-free paper Contents Author's preface ....................................... xiii Acknowledgments ...................................... xv Foreword by Paul J. Weitz ................................ xvii List of ®gures ........................................ xxi List of abbreviations and acronyms ........................... xxvii Prologue ............................................ xxxi 1 STS-107: Rescue or repair? ............................. 1 Columbia's last ¯ight ................................. 1 Columbia's 28th mission . .......................... 3 Columbia is lost ................................ 4 The physical cause............................... 5 Rescue or repair? ................................... 6 Extending the mission . .......................... 6 Inspection EVA ................................ 6 Atlantis to the rescue . .......................... 9 Rescue mission crewing . .......................... 10 The Space Shuttle rescue ball . .......................... 10 Hypothetical Columbia rescue mission pro®le ................. 14 Template comparisons . .......................... 14 Atlantis rescue mission . .......................... 15 Rescue EVA................................... 19 Atlantis return and Columbia disposal.................. 22 A repair EVA option? ................................ 23 Limited options................................. 24 vi Contents RepairEVA techniques ........................... 26 Alternative options .................................. 26 LiOH regeneration............................... 26 Alternative vehicles .............................. 27 Reality check ...................................... 27 References ........................................ 29 2 Space: A ®nal frontier ................................ 31 Ambassadors of humanity ............................. 32 The Outer Space TreatyÐan International Agreement ....... 32 Rescue Agreement ............................... 33 Keeping it updated .............................. 34 Back to the future ............................... 35 The theory of risk................................... 36 Keeping the public aware .......................... 38 Hazards of ¯ying in space.......................... 38 Rescue systems and options......................... 43 Safety in mission design ............................... 47 Mission design ................................. 47 Nominal mission design ........................... 49 Contingency mission design ......................... 50 De®ning launch aborts ............................ 52 Orbital operations condensation ...................... 54 Descent phase consideration ........................ 54 Summary......................................... 55 References ........................................ 56 3 Training to survive................................... 57 NASA astronaut survival and wilderness training .............. 57 Mercury..................................... 58 Gemini ...................................... 60 Apollo. ...................................... 63 Shuttle ...................................... 67 Constellation .................................. 74 Russian cosmonaut survival training ....................... 74 Vostok and Voskhod ............................. 74 Soyuz....................................... 76 Zond ....................................... 80 Buran....................................... 80 Chinese survival training............................... 81 Passenger and specialist survival training .................... 81 American payload specialists ........................ 82 Russian cosmonaut researchers....................... 83 International crewing ............................. 84 References ........................................ 84 Contents vii 4 Pad escape........................................ 85 If a launch goes wrong ............................... 85 Atthepad........................................ 86 BaikonurCosmodrome. .......................... 86 Cape Canaveral................................. 89 Kennedy Space Center. .......................... 93 Vandenberg Air Force Base......................... 104 China....................................... 105 References ........................................ 106 5 Launch escape, 1: Escape towers .......................... 107 Escape towers...................................... 107 Mercury Launch Escape Tower .......................... 108 Reliability and safety in ¯ight ....................... 108 Mercury Escape Tower. .......................... 109 System operation................................ 111 The astronaut ``chicken switch'' ...................... 114 Evolving the system .............................. 115 Little rocket for a big role ......................... 115 Form-®tting couch............................... 118 Wind tunnels and ground tests....................... 118 Tractor rocket de®nition . .......................... 118 Beach abort program . .......................... 119 Little Joe ..................................... 119 Mercury-Redstone ............................... 123 The day they launched the escape tower ................ 123 Mercury-Atlas.................................. 125 Summary ..................................... 125 Gemini Launch Escape Tower. .......................... 126 Apollo Launch Escape Tower. .......................... 127 Overview ..................................... 128 Hardware..................................... 128 Operation .................................... 131 Apollo abort capabilities . .......................... 134 Launch Escape System development ................... 138 White Sands Launch Facility ........................ 141 Ground-based test program ......................... 142 Apollo LES ¯ight test program ...................... 144 Pad abort tests ................................. 144 Little Joe test program . .......................... 148 Saturn 1 unmanned test program ..................... 151 Manned operations .............................. 152 Summary ..................................... 153 Soyuz Launch Escape Tower. .......................... 153 Development .................................. 154 viii Contents Testing the system ............................... 157 System upgrades ................................ 159 Description and operation .......................... 160 Operational experiences ........................... 162 Summary..................................... 163 OtherSoviet escape towers ............................. 163 TKS ferry for Almaz ............................. 163 Cosmonauts forthe Moon ......................... 164 Launch escape ................................. 164 Shenzhou Launch Escape System ......................... 166 Orion Launch Escape Tower ............................ 168 The Flight Test Of®ce ............................ 170 The test program................................ 170 Test vehicle con®gurations.......................... 172 Launch Abort System ............................ 173 Test stand prepared .............................. 175 AA-1 and beyond ............................... 176 Summary......................................... 176 References ........................................ 177 6 Launch escape, 2: Ejection seats .......................... 179 Ejection seat history ................................. 179 Rocket planes...................................... 180 X-1, breaking the barrier with a parachute (1946±1958) ...... 181 Skystreak and Skyrocket (1947±1956) .................. 181 X-2, a different approach (1952±1956) .................. 181 X-3, stiletto (1952±1956)
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