Section 21: EMU Systems

Young: PGA Fit and Operations, I think weÂ’ve covered that a number of times.

Biomedical Instrumentation weÂ’ve covered.

Duke: I had one thing I havenÂ’t mentioned, is that I got some - I got lesions from those sensors that I was sensitive to. It looks like itÂ’s from the tape and the doctors have seen it, so they are well aware of it.

Young: Liquid Cool Garment - a good piece of gear.

Gloves. The only thing I can say is that if weÂ’re ever going to have a manned space operation where a guy is going to do useful work during long periods of time in space, they ought to develop a glove where he can use his fingers. ThatÂ’s all I can say, we arenÂ’t there yet.

UCTA Operation.

Duke: I used the transfer from the suit to the can and the tank in the LM and it works. At 2½ psi we could effectively empty the UCTA in just a minute or so.

Young: I never used mine, because I was always afraid that if I did I would have a very bad pressure suit odor, and IÂ’m sure I would have.

Duke: In fact, right before lift-off thatÂ’s what happened to me. I got a very warm, left leg.

Young: And for the rest of the time CharlieÂ’s pressure suit smelled like an old head.

Duke: Not enough.

Young: We said we needed some more lube in there for the surface operation and the dust.

Drink Bag. I make recommendations to keep it from leaking.

The Anti-Fog. Worked as advertised. They packed the anti-fog differently for the two EMU maintenance kits. The ones that we had were packed so that it was flat. The ones that Ken had in the Command and Service Module were packed apparently at 15 Psi, or something, because his EMU maintenance Kit was three times the size of ours. When we got it out, it was fully 4 inches in depth, and it should be about an inch in depth. And it was because the anti-fog pads had all pressurized. I think both of the EMU maintenance kits ought to be packed the same way. You donÂ’t want to break that seal, because if you do the anti-fog dries out and itÂ’s no good.

PLSS/PGA Operations, we talked about that. Pressurization and Ventilation weÂ’ve discussed. Liquid Cooling and Circulation weÂ’ve discussed.

Communications, we discussed the problem of stowing and unstowing the antenna.

Duke: The only time we forgot that was after EVA-2. We felt like the ground would want us to really get back in, and we just flat forgot to put the antennas down. Then I broke one - JohnÂ’s broke off about 2 inches from the top. It was a little jagged, but I taped it up, and we used it the rest of the time. The Comm was just as good on EVA-3 as it was otherwise.

Young: Connectors and Controls were adequate. Whether or not you can reach them is a function of where that old backpack is on your back on the PLSS. That would vary from donning to donning and vary throughout the surface operations.

Duke: The two that you had to reach, like the ice water and the coolant, were always there.

Young: Right.

Duke: The ones you couldnÂ’t reach were the primary water and the oxygen.

Young: We only needed to reach them in an emergency.

Duke: The RCU got dusty due to our dust fender problem. I had a tough time reading mine even though it had the plastic over it. They really did a good job putting that plastic over the top of that thing or we never would have been able to read it.

Young: They told us to give a PLSS check, and I couldnÂ’t read my ECU numbers because I made a mistake reaching up with my finger and tried to wipe the dust off. Apparently, the dust acts like an abrasive as it just completely clobbered the ECU and I couldnÂ’t read what percent oxygen I had from then on. I think they ought to do something about that.

Duke: I dusted mine all the time. It got dusty.

Young: I couldnÂ’t read mine.

Foot Restraints?

Duke: I would like to see the Velcro taken off the flight floor, because it sure got dusty.

Young: Sure did.

Duke: Made it terrible to clean.

Young: Get all that dust and mud and throw it in a jettison bag.

Duke: But with the Velcro there, you couldnÂ’t do that.

Young: For the short time youÂ’ll be in there in zero-g, you could use the tie-downs.

Duke: ThatÂ’s right.

Young: YouÂ’re going to be in there suited anyway.

Duke: In fact you want to float free in zero gravity at least I did. I felt more comfortable floating. And the hoses really restrain you to some degree. The Velcro didnÂ’t work. I tried that and I just came right up off the floor.

Young: I guess I agree, Charlie. I donÂ’t think you lose anything by getting rid of the Velcro, but you would sure get rid, of a lot of dirt.