Early spacesuit vacuum chamber test goes wrong

Here's a little piece of history here guys. It shows how dangerous space can be and yet this happened on Earth simulating the vacuum of space. I would say this astronaut was very,very lucky indeed. Makes me shiver thinking about your bodily fluids starting to boil....enjoy.

There was also the Fatal fire in wich three men died, testing the Apollo 1 capsule on earth.

Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight test for Apollo 204, scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission. It was supposed to have been launched on February 21, 1967, but Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM) during a test run at 1:00 p.m., Friday, January 27, 1967.

apollo 1 fire

Yea I think we have forgotten just how dangerous it really is. With all the Space shuttles launches, even with 2 disasters. It also seems like the general public has lost interest in space as well. Such a shame really.Kids use to be absolutely fascinated with space.

reply to post by CaptGizmo


Awesome thread! S+F

i just cant imagine the bravery and intestinal fortitude of the "test subjects" who helped make our technical advancements achieve a level where we could move on to space exploration . Not to mention the bravery of the men who actually sat in the shuttles and launched themselves at mind boggling speeds into the great unknown.


~meathead

If we ever really try to colonize space it will probably take centuries before a human being ever feels truly comfortable up there.

We will probably see the first civilian space accident some time in the next couple of years. Hopefully its a shuttle full of Halliburton executives.

I think trying to be overly safe is holding us back in space travel though. There's always gonna be stuff you learn while doing, so trying to think of everything before we go to Mars or build a base on the moon isn't going to help. We just need to DO IT!

Civilian space travel would have to be regulated to maintain safety and preserve space. There is enough space junk floating around up there now as it is. That would have to be addressed if we do start to colonize other worlds or space stations.

I think this is from the TV show "Moon Machines", which was probably the best series of documentaries I ever saw about the Apollo missions. There were several episodes (six total) each dedicated to a piece of Apollo hardware: The Saturn V Rocket, Command Module, Lunar Lander, Lunar Rover, Navigation Computer, and (as this video shows) the Space Suit. Each episode discusses the development of the hardware with many of the people who were actually involved with the program.

This series of documentaries is on the "Science Channel" and "Discovery Channel" every so often. I suggest everyone watch these shows if they have the chance.

These can be seen on Youtube. Here's a link to Part 1 of 5 of the episode on the Space Suits (I think all of the episodes can be seen on Youtube):
www.youtube.com...



[edit on 6/9/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]