Question Did the Apollo astronauts ever crawl under the lander?

[Keatah]

Did the Apollo astronauts ever crawl under the lander to look at the "damage" the descent engine blast caused to the surface? Take samples from there?

I never recall seeing any reference to this. Surely some science would come from that..yes?

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Did the Apollo astronauts ever crawl under the lander to look at the "damage" the descent engine blast caused to the surface? Take samples from there?

I never recall seeing any reference to this. Surely some science would come from that..yes?

I think the risk of either getting stuck, or not getting back up were considered too high, especially when you can just sample the general vicinity. If you watch some of the EVA clips from Apollo 17, one shows Schmidt (I think) trying to right himself after tripping, and it took nearly 30 seconds. Its really hard to move with such a large weight on your back.

 

[jedidia]

Not sure how well those suits were suited for crawling through loose dust... :shifty:

 

[Urwumpe]

Did the Apollo astronauts ever crawl under the lander to look at the "damage" the descent engine blast caused to the surface? Take samples from there?

I never recall seeing any reference to this. Surely some science would come from that..yes?

Not sure if they took samples, but there are many photographs that had been intentionally made of the region below the lander.

 

[Hartmann]

It´s not the best place to take samples , could be contaminatd by the rocket exhaust.

The area next to the lander could have a lot more interesting samples and it´s easy to dig a bit in the regolite.

 

[Capt_hensley]

I think the risk of either getting stuck, or not getting back up were considered too high, especially when you can just sample the general vicinity. If you watch some of the EVA clips from Apollo 17, one shows Schmidt (I think) trying to right himself after tripping, and it took nearly 30 seconds. Its really hard to move with such a large weight on your back.

The hard suit at pressure is far worse than the weight on your back. In 1/3 gravity the weight wasn't the problem. But a large object on your back made manuvering an altogether different prospect.

The photos were cool, and described a nominal damage expectation. Samples were not a consideration AFAIK.

 

[Urwumpe]

Look for example here:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS11-40-5921

 

[statickid]

The rocket blast might be a good place to look for an unmanned lander with limited arms/tools. My guess is that most of the loose dust was blown out from under the lander. Whatever was under it would be not much different than what you could scrape dust off of nearby, and probably too hard to sample without a drill or something. Then, why bother drilling when you can actually collect large rocks and bring them home. Thats my guess at the *RELATIVE* lack of interest in the rocket blast.

 

[FordPrefect]

The hard suit at pressure is far worse than the weight on your back. In 1/3 gravity the weight wasn't the problem. But a large object on your back made manuvering an altogether different prospect.

The photos were cool, and described a nominal damage expectation. Samples were not a consideration AFAIK.

1/6th gravity. Otherwise I concur.

 

[N_Molson]

They certainly wouldn't have taken the risk to damage the suits by intentionally crawling, especially under the lander where you could have a shard of metal, remains of hydrazine or stuff like that. Now it happened to some astronauts to fall on the lunar soil because they lost their balance, but it didn't cause any injuries or suit damage AFAIK, only a real moment of terror.

 

[Bloodworth]

I don't think the risk of getting stuck or the difficulty in moving in the suit were the issues. I would have thought that there would have been too great a risk of accidentally puncturing the suit.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

They certainly wouldn't have taken the risk to damage the suits by intentionally crawling, especially under the lander where you could have a shard of metal, remains of hydrazine or stuff like that. Now it happened to some astronauts to fall on the lunar soil because they lost their balance, but it didn't cause any injuries or suit damage AFAIK, only a real moment of terror.

And the concern was that it might be difficult to get back up, right? With the spacesuit basically just being a big balloon, going through all of the motions involved in getting up could be difficult, particularly from lying on ones back.

 

[Capt_hensley]

1/6th gravity. Otherwise I concur.

My bad, 1/6th is correct, I've other worlds going through my mind at any given time.

@ Bloodworth, Punctures were of concern no-doubt, but risk mitigation was used
@ BruceJJJ, Astronauts practiced falling on their back, on earth, with a reduced weight, fully pressurized, (EVA) hard suit and felt comfortable enough to return to walking upright without undo energy expenditure, or fear. Besides if you really needed help your partner should be there to get you going again.

The (EVA) hard suits were made to take a good amount of abrasion and were made to withstand a reasonable puncture event, duct tape would seal you up, and an immediate return to LM was the only order of business.

I'm still trying to dig up the images of LM-6s post touchdown inspection photos, but not much luck right now. Any body know why NRTS is down?

 

[garyw]

Any body know why NRTS is down?

NTRS = NASA Technical Reports Server.

This has been discussed quite extensively here and on other sites -> http://nasawatch.com/archives/2013/03/nasa-blocks-eve.html

 

[orbitingpluto]

And the concern was that it might be difficult to get back up, right? With the spacesuit basically just being a big balloon, going through all of the motions involved in getting up could be difficult, particularly from lying on ones back.

From Wikipedia(link):

The suit also featured a metal "hula hoop" ring on the back, which would allow a solo cosmonaut who fell on his back to roll onto his side and use his arms and legs to stand.

It's a Russian moon suit, not American, but since the Russians had to plan on one guy moonwalking, they had to provide means of self-rescue. Americans could count on the second guy being around to help, which could explain why I don't know of similar device on the Apollo moon suits.

 

[statickid]

I always use this archive.

http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html