[meteorite-list] UA Science Team Readies For NEAR Landing

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:07 2004
Message-ID: <200102080005.QAA00438_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

> But regarding Eros, I can't help but think back to the Gemini 9 mission,
> when America performed its second ever space walk. Astronaut Gene Cernan was
> supposed to exit the craft, climb to the back of it and put on a backpack
> with control thrusters. It was a disaster! He had no hand holds, so every
> time he touched the spacecraft, it pushed him back, so he spent a couple of
> hours floating around, ultimately achieving nothing! By the time everyone
> remembered Newton's 3rd law, they had hand-holds installed for Gemini 12
> (and Buzz Aldrin did 3 perfect EVAs).

I'm not sure where you got your information, but some of it is incorrect.
There were handholds, footbars, stirrups, and velcro straps installed on the
outside of the Gemini 9 spacecraft for Cernan's EVA. He did have difficulty
getting to to the back of the spacecraft, but it wasn't because someone had
forgotten Newton's 3rd law. After climbing to the back of the spacecraft, he
placed himself in the manuevering unit, but then his visor started to fog up.
He fiddled with the visor for a while, but it would not clear up. Since he
couldn't see very well through the fogged up visor, he decided, with
Mission Control's concurrence, to end the EVA. I think it was wise for him
not to attempt to do thruster maneuvers in free space with limited visibility.
Nevertheless, Cernan still accomplished 80% of the EVA's goals.

Cernan also later flew on Apollo 17 in 1972, and has the distinction of being
the last man to be on the surface of the Moon.

Ron Baalke
Received on Wed 07 Feb 2001 07:05:52 PM PST