X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
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Tue, 10 Apr 90 02:42:14 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 02:41:47 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #244
SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 244
Today's Topics:
sci.astro
Re: Ejection seats
Re: Skylab
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel to present report to NASA (Forwarded)
>>> Your 25g estimate is in the ballpark. Older seats generated up to 40g
>>> and had consequent higher injury rates.
>>
>>So what causes these injuries? Hitting the ground? Hitting the
>>canopy? Getting arms caught on something? Sheer acceleration?
>>Running into another aircraft? :-(
>>
>>I find it easy to believe that ejecting is not A Fun Thing, but
>>where specifically is the danger?
The classic example of this was the loss of the XB-70 aircraft. The
B-70 used a special seat with clamshell doors that enclosed the pilot
to survive ejection at altitudes up to 80000 feet and speeds up to
Mach 3. During this sequence Al White ejected, but not before the
clamshell doors closed on his shoulder dislocating it. It was
necessary for him to pull his arm inside the doors for the remaining
sequencing of the seat to occur. Carl Cross never did eject from the
aircraft and died in the accident.
>Back to the S-3 for a moment: the canopy does not jettison prior to
>ejection (it is too big)--there is a breaker bar mounted above the crewman's
>head and ejection is *through* the canopy. Ouch. Well, it sounds like an
>"ouch," anyway--I've talked to guys who've done it and they say, essentially:
>"Trust me, you don't notice--or care."
The British have a quaint way of getting through the canopys on their
aircraft (and the aircraft that we get from them, the AV-8 Harrier and
the T-45 Goshawk). They use a shaped charge embedded in the canopy
above the pilots head. When the ejection sequence is initiated the
shaped charge blows and destroys the canopy, after which the seat and
pilot go right through ;-).
--
Albion H. Bowers bowers@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov!bowers
`In the changing of the times, they were like autumn lightning, a
thing out of season, an empty promise of rain that would fall unheeded
on fields already bare.'
attributed to Abe Shosaburo by Dave Lowery
------------------------------
Date: 9 Apr 90 16:44:01 GMT
From: uokmax!jabishop@apple.com (Jonathan A Bishop)
Subject: Re: Skylab
In article <Added.Aa7zNk_00Ui34JQE8y@andrew.cmu.edu> J_DELANO@UNHH.BITNET writes:
>
> was there ever any real chance of saving Skylab? I read once taht
>if the space shuttle had been a bit more advanced a little sooner, then
>they would have gone up to repair Skylab. Wouldn't it have been worth it?
> And, on a related note, are the Soviets simply going to de-orbit
>Salyut 7 like they do all the progress modules?
> Jeffrey
As I recall, there was talk of saving it with the Shuttle. Whether it would have been worth it or not is, I think, debatable. New food and clothes would have to have been taken to the station. We had no more available
Saturn IB's for launch, and modifying the Skylab to dock with the Shuttle would have probably been very difficult in terms of hardware costs, among other
things. (Anyone know if the Shuttle would have had any trouble clearing the
Apollo Telescope Mount solar panels?)
All of the previous Salyut's have been de-orbited (most of them
intentionally :), so I assume the same will be done with Salyut 7.
--
----------------------------------
jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
"I'm President of the United States and I'm NOT going to eat any more broccoli!" -- George Bush
------------------------------
Date: 9 Apr 90 22:32:48 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel to present report to NASA (Forwarded)
Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. April 9, 1990
N90-21 NOTE TO EDITORS:
AEROSPACE SAFETY ADVISORY PANEL TO PRESENT REPORT TO NASA
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) will present its
annual report to NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly on April 13,
1990, in room 7002, NASA Headquarters, 400 Maryland Ave., S.W.,
Washington, D.C. at 2 p.m. EDT.
Copies of the ASAP report will be distributed at the meeting
and available in the NASA Headquarters newsroom (202/453-8400).
