Apollo vs Gemini suits

[bknight]

The Voskhod 2 EVA suit was also oxygen cooled. It didn't work so good. Leonov was apparently up to his knees in sweat by the end.

From the video of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford tells the story of Gene Cernan having over 10 lbs. of water in his boots when they examined him after splashdown.

[Ishkabibble]

I watched a television program the other evening that covered some of the Gemini IX flight, and saw Stafford talking about how Cernan had serious difficulties with overheating and perspiration during his EVA to the point that he weighed some 14 pounds less post-flight than he did before launch. That's some serious sweat.

I think I've read somewhere that the problems with air-cooled suits causing perspiration, causing fogging of the visor, causing reduced visibility, added to the stress of fighting the suit not being flexible enough causing perspiration, causing fogging, etc. were the prime reason why the water-cooling garment was developed in the first place.

Of course, at my age, the memory is the second thing to go....

What were we talking about? 

[VQ]

From the video of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford tells the story of Gene Cernan having over 10 lbs. of water in his boots when they examined him after splashdown.

I would imagine that in microgravity, drowning in one's own sweat is a very real and unattractive possibility.

[bknight]

I watched a television program the other evening that covered some of the Gemini IX flight, and saw Stafford talking about how Cernan had serious difficulties with overheating and perspiration during his EVA to the point that he weighed some 14 pounds less post-flight than he did before launch. That's some serious sweat.

I think I've read somewhere that the problems with air-cooled suits causing perspiration, causing fogging of the visor, causing reduced visibility, added to the stress of fighting the suit not being flexible enough causing perspiration, causing fogging, etc. were the prime reason why the water-cooling garment was developed in the first place.

Of course, at my age, the memory is the second thing to go....

What were we talking about? 

That's the video I was referring, also when Cernan took his helmet off, Stafford described his very red face, like he had been in a sauna far too long.

[Ishkabibble]

I watched a television program the other evening that covered some of the Gemini IX flight, and saw Stafford talking about how Cernan had serious difficulties with overheating and perspiration during his EVA to the point that he weighed some 14 pounds less post-flight than he did before launch. That's some serious sweat.

I think I've read somewhere that the problems with air-cooled suits causing perspiration, causing fogging of the visor, causing reduced visibility, added to the stress of fighting the suit not being flexible enough causing perspiration, causing fogging, etc. were the prime reason why the water-cooling garment was developed in the first place.

Of course, at my age, the memory is the second thing to go....

What were we talking about? 

That's the video I was referring, also when Cernan took his helmet off, Stafford described his very red face, like he had been in a sauna far too long.

Yes, that's the one. It simply amazed me to hear that on many of those Gemini flights, the EVA guys came so close to major problems. Buzz really saved the entire thing with hand and footholds, and the underwater training. I found the description in the 1994 program "Moonshot" to be amusing.

[Luke Pemberton]

...all very good, but has anyone got video or data to prove that the sublimator on the PLSS worked.   

[bknight]

...all very good, but has anyone got video or data to prove that the sublimator on the PLSS worked.   

Especially with astronaut in a vacuum chamber!!

[Ishkabibble]

Nobody can know anything about everything.

[Dalhousie]

The Voskhod 2 EVA suit was also oxygen cooled. It didn't work so good. Leonov was apparently up to his knees in sweat by the end.

From the video of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford tells the story of Gene Cernan having over 10 lbs. of water in his boots when they examined him after splashdown.

How did it get into his boots? Sweat in microgravity spreads through surface tension, it doesn't settle.

Ten pounds is 4.54 litres of water, which is a lot, 1.5 litres was enough to put Parmitano in danger of drowning, though that was all in his helmet of course. whereas the 4.54 litres would be spread over the entire body, minius whatever portion evaporated.

[VQ]

How did it get into his boots? Sweat in microgravity spreads through surface tension, it doesn't settle.

Local acceleration after splashdown is about 10 m/s².

[Dalhousie]

How did it get into his boots? Sweat in microgravity spreads through surface tension, it doesn't settle.

Local acceleration after splashdown is about 10 m/s².

So he didn't know about it until after he landed?  Other than feeling very wet?

[bknight]

How did it get into his boots? Sweat in microgravity spreads through surface tension, it doesn't settle.

Local acceleration after splashdown is about 10 m/s².

So he didn't know about it until after he landed?  Other than feeling very wet?

Probably not, because of the zero G distributing the sweat all over the suit.

[Allan F]

That can't all be sweat. If he lost that amount of fluid, he'd be severly dehydrated - must be a leak from the LCG.

[DD Brock]

He wasn't wearing a liquid cooled garment, and he weighed 10 pounds less than he did pre-flight. He was severly dehydrated. Apparently his heart rate was through the roof.

[bknight]

My memory is not as good as it used to be, the amount was really 1.5 pounds of water in each boot.  But his post flight weight was down 13.5 pounds.
http://www.doctorzebra.com/drz/s_medhx.html