Jet Shoes, Zip Guns and Rocket Belts - How Astronauts Learned to Fly Around In Space.
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- The problem with space walks is you can't actually walk, you have to carefully pull yourself around from one handhold to the next and remain tethered to your spaceship. However, when NASA was experimenting and learning how astronauts could operate in space it had many more ideas, not all of which were practical.
There have been several personal rocket propulsion systems developed for spaceflight, and a handful of astronauts have been able to float in space without a safety tether, the ultimate one person spacecraft.
*normal people* “Jet packs on the moon? That insane!”
*Kerbal players* “what do you mean? That’s an integral part of getting back home!”
A yes the good old emergency fuel reserve. Nothing beats the experience of getting out and pushing your capsule back to kerbin.
@@peter4210 sometimes rinse and repeat 18 times before you finally de-orbit from the distance of Minmus
@@jip5889 I love making the kerbin landing part 20k worth with a cargo module filled with science parts and extra RCS fuel. It also hides the solar pannel but It makes it hella heavy so after making 1 mun hop too many to get some extra biome science, I did have to rince and repeat for 10-20 min real life to get the periaps down into kerbin
I rescued a Kerbal in a krakened station one time thanks to the EVA pack.
Station exploded and the module the Kerbal was in was spinning. Got out, corrected for spin, then burned to the nearest spacecraft that was about half an orbit away at that point.
Just barely made it with single digits in the fuel left but that Kerbal lived to fly another day.
Until he got stranded on the Mun in a later mission.
@@peter4210 Although you do need to be careful to not put your spacecraft in a spin, those are rather hard to correct by pushing...
Bruce McCandless said he could have had his visor up for the free floating photos. His reason for keeping the gold visor down was so school children cold see themselves doing the same thing when they grew up.
You can tell a lot about a person's character by their actions.
That is so cool.
"That required stainless steel trousers to save your ass..."
Aside from the bounty of interesting spaceflight history on this channel, Scott's witty remarks are totally worth watching for. 😂😂
It's ok as long as they don't have an equipment malfunction at the wrong time. [Murphy's law] Yea, if something goes wrong and there is no means to get you back, you're screwed.
I wonder if you're in that situation and you begin to run out of oxygen...Would there be a way to self terminate instead of slow suffocation? Maybe it wouldn't be that bad of a way to die as hypoxia sets in, you know it's coming quick but you get delirious first and then fade away into unconsciousness? [Take off the suit helmet and make it real quick.]
Fly safe, indeed!
Does anyone else get anxious when they see those images of free flying untethered astronauts?
Anxious? Trust me if his mom found out that he was leaving the spacecraft untethered she’d throw a shoe at his head from Earth knocking him right back.
Absolutely, one of them nearly drowned recently.
@@ThatGuy-sd3zl l a c h a n c l a
Yes but would gladly do it if given the chance.
Nah, let them live a little.
The real reason they made stainless steel trousers: To show the aliens our sense of style.
Is having a pair of stainless steel pants not normal for some reason?...
6:47 !!
Or, possibly so they can say, "kiss my shiny metal ass".
Or to match the tin foil hats
To protect their massive balls from space debris
Bruce McCandless was actually my cousin, and he was someone I always looked up to when learning about the universe! Sadly he passed away before I could meet him, but I will always be blown away by his achievements in the history of space exploration
I met him in high school. He came and spoke to us since he was an alumnus of ours. Really nice man. You'd be proud
Have you read the biography that his son wrote? His son was interviewed on the Interplanetary Podcast that came out mid-July. You might want to give that a listen.
Wow, now that's a conversation starter!!
What an excellent video. Just made me realize more how OP the Kerbal EVA suit is :/
A quick ballpark suggests that for the Kerbal EVA pack to get its 600 m/s of delta V on just cold gas alone, the pack itself would weigh roughly 8x what the Kerbal does
Truly a remarkable vid. I expected to learn something new about EVA propulsion but this was absolutely chock full of info... And yeah, I knew Kerbals were OP but this really puts it into perspective.
Pretty sure kerbals have no understanding of the word "safety", bet their jetpacks are paper thin shells full of monopropellant.
Kerbal's EVA propellent used to be monopropellent
An engineer kerbal can use the extra fuel canister as a drop tank, essentially creating a two-stage rocket with over 900 m/s of delta-v.
Something about an astronaut flying to a satellite, stopping its rotation using suit thrusters, and dragging it back to the shuttle is so fucking metal!
Yeah! Its so ambitious and im pretty sad that nothing like that is happening these days!
@@oadka we'll see what starship is able to accomplish with its payload Bay.
@@JohnSmith-yp2nt and the starship itself is literally metal
@@OriginalSeblakCeker 🤘
That is a thing only the Shuttle could do - satellite servicing and retrieval.
We had a long discussion on Arocket a few years back where info on a 1950s compressed-air hover platform was unearthed. Much like the waterjet hover platforms of today, the pilot flew on the jets with purely organic control. In one test, the safety tether got snarled, and the pilot flew up to it and untangled it while hovering, showing how intuitive such a system can be.
I've flown both backpack and hoverboard water jets, and the hoverboard is much easier to fly. That didn't save me from crashing into the water multiple times, though.
The Arocket discussion concluded that yes, a well-trained pilot probably could fly a stand-on rocket to orbit from the lunar surface with only a kerbal-level HUD to help optimize the ascent path.
Whoa. That last point is really impressive!
My workplace actually made a leg joint for the next generation Artemis space suits.
Cool!
not to rag on you or your work in the slightest but the fact that your company worked only on a leg joint is why the Artemis suits are so fucked. too many cooks in the kitchen with 100 companies all making one damn thing. cograduates on being part of something so cool tho!
@@the_seeker.entity9206 we didn't design it, they sent us the blueprint and we manufactured it to spec.
@@Kumquat_Lord thanks for the clarification!
@Colin Berg Never said its doomed to fail, its just extremely over budget and late. Its not like Boeing doesn't eventually get the job done. it just steals 100s of millions from the tax payer while it's at it.
Hey Scott, just wanted to say thanks for making all these videos. There's no way I'd be able to find out all these little tidbits and trivia with the free time I have available without you putting them all together in your vids. They're always top notch in my opinion.
If you are doing videos on individual systems, I would love to see one on life support!
Oxygen, water, food, that kind of thing.
How do you live in space for extended periods.
Chris Hadfield/CSA have lots of good videos on this
Zip guns in space? Man, space exploration is getting pretty tough these days...
i cant tell if your referencing factorio or real life, either way its funny
Now they are 3D printing AR15s on the ISS, you know, just in case of a 'home invasion'. Presumably by 'tic tac' pilots...
Praise Gun Jesus that they weren't given zip 22(s)
I’m proud to say that John Spencer, my Grand-Uncle worked on the Bell Rocket-belt program throughout the mid-60s and would go on to become Bell Aerospace Chief Test Pilot from 1969 through 1972.
I flew a simulator of the MMU at Space Camp. One would have to be suicidal or have lunar size balls to attempt to fly one. Inducing a spin was basically the default behavior and arresting a spin was practically impossible.
I understand why they got rid of the MMU.
Well, the real MMU has a gyroscopic stabilization, which is expensive enough that I doubt Space Camp would have included it.
But yeah, it's stability is a hard problem to solve.
@@jmr5125 Don't we have gyroscopic stabilization in our phones?
@@leerman22 Electronic gyroscopes have come down in price by several orders of magnitude since the '80s.
@@leerman22 Phones have gyroscopes with which to measure movement, but they offer no stabilization at that size and form.
@@leerman22 Gyroscopic *sensors*, yes, but I'm assuming that the Space Camp hardware is actual training hardware that actual astronauts might have used for ground training, and I'm quite confident that such an item would use a mechanical gyroscope.
Also, it's in the best interests of the camp administrator to make the trainer hard to use (but not impossible). A simulator that anyone can master in 10 seconds doesn't keep the children occupied for very long, after all.
I completely forgot about that image of the lonely astronaut!!
That made that astronaut twice as lonely
@@vladimirdyuzhev In space no one can hear you whimper in sadness.
you can't see it in the picture but it is actually a picture of the biggest balls off the planet.
Great video! I am an early pneumatics engineer and this history lesson on personal propulsion systems gave a completely new meaning to my work.
I am exited to dive deep into the engineering of these legacy subsystems to come up with something new! 🚀
Thanks Scott!
People can say whatever is bad or stupid in the space shuttle design, but watching this channel had got me to appreciate more on how shuttle is ultimately like a space on-site repair workshop, we need Starship with a repair bay like the shuttle.
Problem is its waaaay cheaper to launch new satelite than repair old one, with the few rare exceptions like Hubble orbital repairs are useless.
The stuff they did on the Space Shuittle missions will never cease to amaze, the EVAs they did were so ambitious! The ISS is amazing, but the capabilites of the Shuttle and the insane missions they did 20 odd years ago makes you wonder what kind of capabilites a modern suttle would have!
If I recall correctly an SSTO is a Single Stage To Orbit, and the space shuttle wasn’t that at all. I admire the idea of a SSTO, but in the meantime, a two stage rocket will do.
@@williammullins6116 Of course, edited above to fix!
Watching these men working on machinery just casually in space is the most awe inspiring thing I have seen
The last time I was this early, we weren't sure if we'd sink into the lunar surface or not
I lack any knowledge of the reference you’re trying to make. Are you saying we theorized that it was possible for us to sink into the moon upon landing? That is comical I have never heard of that :p
Booooo
@@DailyBongHits It's actually a really funny/interesting topic! It's little known, but before we landed probes on the lunar surface, we had no way of knowing the surface conditions there. There could have been an 8 foot layer of powder that would sink any lander that was set down there, for instance. A lunar rover concept even had screws for wheels, to cope with this hypothetical problem!
Some peoples think the Moon is made of plasma, rovers sinking would be the least of our problems lol
@@Lagul_4 Nasa does love to think that the surface of other bodies are realy soft. I'm still not over the self digging heat probe that was just a glorified dildo that never managed to dig in the martian soil when the plan was to sent it 3 m down. I am ready to bet the soviet union or college students on a budget could have made a better self digging heat probe
NASA pushed Martin to deliver the MMU before it was ready. What flew the first time had non-flight-rated connectors on it. During post-flight inspection, it was revealed that some connectors had become 90% demated. Most of those would have resulted in the astronaut being stranded at a distance from the shuttle. The contingency plans for that event were, um, sketchy at best. A friend of mine who worked for Martin, designed a Return Line Tether unit to address such emergencies, but it was deemed too heavy at the last minute, and they pulled it from the MMU program. It was a very close thing.
I remember reading all about this with much fascination in Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins. Such a well written book.
"Zip gun" is very old American slang for an improvised firearm, so when I saw the title of this video I was really curious as to why an astronaut would need one. Turns out NASA engineers have an odd sense of humor.
there was also a commercial product called Zip (Zip 22), or the P90 at home as some would call it
ruclips.net/video/X9bULArrKs4/видео.html
The Russians have a sawn off shotgun on souze to shoot bears that get too curious
the zip gun could potentially be a weapon. a tube inserted into the front nozzle would suffice. and a needle-shaped projectile.
Russians: We'll use an inverted can of your Lynx deodorant.
It's sobering to read the commentary from people who weren't alive when so many of these events took place. I especially remember Mission Control almost yelling at Ed White to "Get back in!" because he was having too much fun floating outside his Gemini capsule. Ed White died in the Apollo fire, another thing I'll never forget.
Thanks. You always choose subjects I have been interested in. This was another really good one.
I'd really like them to develop a pressure operated 'drone' for ISS. Steering and movement with simple valve nozzles. Wire anchored so they can retrieve it if something fails. Could get awesome shots of ISS, Dragon or Starship and deploy it from outside hull. Or through airlock. Lightweight - could operate quite long with small high pressure container. Some university could developt it.
Benefits would be reach, you can get wide images, free angles and faster movement. Maybe could be used to deliver tools/spares to astronauts on EVAs. The arm is quite slow, has limited reach and takes a while to "travel" to other parts of station. Drone could be padded also to protect station from bumps. They could also use cheap replaceable gopros on this if you launched it every time via airlock to deal with CMOS degradation in radiation. Or have it 'docked' on the external side of ISS, dock would need charging port and valve to reload drone with pressurized gas (which would be an issue as you need to have high pressure plumbing in place). .... but yeah I'd love to have some 4k cool shots of ISS and other hardware. 360 camera to get some immersive vr stuff.
I hope Starship can do something like the Shuttle in terms of a payload area and extendable arm!
I just hope it doesn't do an embiggened N-1 Rocket Explosion
@@ericlotze7724 During testing/development thats fine. I just agree with Elon that it should better be clear of Stage 0
The Shuttle was really unique with its open cargo bay and spaceplane reentry (easy on the return cargo).
The orbiter was also halfway ssto, since its engines came up at liftoff and remained on till orbit, but it needed the big SRBs for the orange tank
Sometimes it feels like you never sleep, there's barely a week without 3 uploads from you! Thanks for the cool, informative videos we didn't even know we wanted, but are SUPER FASCINATING!
This is a wonderful history of EVA propulsion, thank you Scott. It's also adorable seeing Toothless smiling in the window of your outro rocket :>
Haven't even watched the video yet but already here to say thanks for teaching me so much
The vintage space just pit out a video about the jet shoes. Well worth a watch.
I really hope we get a version of starship with a manipulator arm. Then, we could finally get a replacement for the space shuttle. Being able to do maintenance on satellites is a useful thing.
"The Air Force proposed that Cernan fly the jetpack (AMU) without being tethered to the Gemini (9). Slayton and Kraft made their position clear: “He will fly without a tether over our dead bodies.” The Air Force lost that argument. " Gene Kranz, Failure is not an option.
In hindsight both a wise choice and an academic one.
Perhaps the appropriate video for the “fly safe” tag line.
I’ll stay strapped to the spacecraft, thanks 😵💫😵💫😵💫
Awesome Scott.
Scott, there is a small error at 2:35. Micheal Collins did not EVA to the Agena he docked with (Agena 10, part of the Gemini 10 mission), but with the Agena 8, which was a part of the Gemini 8 mission and was left in orbit. The idea was to retrieve the micrometeorite experiment from the older mission, due to prolonged exposure.
This was explained in the book you recommended couple of videos back (Carrying the Fire) by Collins himself. :P
In the book he explains in great detail how the gun helped him maneuver and how tricky it was.
Good video! Keep up the great work! :)
Bruce used to live across the street from me. Nice to see him talked about
Yes! High performance lunar rocket belts to orbit!
Nice, wonderful, rundown of important design history. In about 2000, I met a retired NASA project manager who had been involved with the handheld maneuvering unit design. I think about him and some other NASA luminaries who retired in the area every time I hear somebody say we didn't go to the moon.
I’d love to see you explore the scientific accuracy and feasibility of the jet pack used in Gravity. That opening scene was incredibly inspiring - as movies about space often are, without any factual connection engineering/physics scenarios.
This outro is fantastic
This is Major Tom to Ground Control... I told you that fighting the spin was a waste of fuel, now how am I supposed to get back?
Thanks Scott! I knew about most of these things, but it was cool to see them listed all in one place.
I have a copy of that iconic image of Bruce McCandless flying free... with my smiling face pasted across his visor! I love space and your vids in particular! Thanks.
Always a treat
My low budget options: air horn and fire extinguisher
I remember the MMUs on the shuttle program quite well but was totally unaware of the Soviet equivalent. You never cease to surprise me Scott. Well done - as usual.
with today's tech we could develop an autonomous bot on a tether that would navigate to a wayward astronaut and pull them back
or we could have the astronaut ride on that same bot, which would work as well, cost less (no jetpack required) and be safer. I agree they look insanely cool but there is no application where a tether-free jetpack would be preferable than a well articulated arm like the canadarm, at least for now.
@@MaximeJean94 Better yet, we can keep the cosmonaut inside, and make the bot do the work.
Even better - we can keep the cosmonaut on the ground, and make the bot do the work on remote commands from ЦУП. (This is the MO behind the new Russian station - "occasionally occupied").
scott on the outro.... i actually liked the second spinaround and zoomout of the shuttle in the warp tunnel, warp tunnels always look like a glove around the ship but when you zoomed out that was sort of an overview effect that wowed me
I liked the things they had in the USAF museum, one was like a go-cart with gas jets, and another was a more primitive version of the gemini 8 wand
Excellent video!
Thanks Scott
About Shoemaker - his story is really quite sad/unfortunate. His ashes are the only one that were carried to the Moon, symbolically placing him there forever. I encourage everyone to read upon him on wiki, mainly the death part. Also, PLEASE, listen to the Nightwish - Shoemaker (here on youtube with lyrics). They made a song in his honor. Even if you don´t like metal, just wait for the end.
Did you hear his wife Carolyn just died last week?
@@scottmanley No I didn´t. They were such and amazing couple. I just hope she had the opportunity to listen to the homage by Nightwish I mentioned. It brings tears to my eyes every time. Also thanks for these amazing videos you keep producing!
“The amu that required stainless steel trousers to save your ass” is one for the books.
George Clooney: SAFER system
Sandra Bullock: Fire Extinguisher
Mark Watney (Matt Damon): Iron Man 😉
@@bobblum5973 Only in the movie, though. In the book, it's shot down for being a stupid idea.
@@Skorpychan Being visually dramatic, I can see why they included it in the movie. I deliberately did not read the book, since I didn't want to judge the movie by its standards, but I should go back and read it now, it's been long enough since I last watched the movie.
@@bobblum5973 The movie is VERY faithful to the book, apart from tweaks for pacing, spectacle, and dumbing down for the average viewer.
Definitely worth reading the book, though. And check out Weir's other work too; Project Hail Mary is recent and really good.
@@Skorpychan Thanks! I'd heard about _Hail Mary_ when it came out, yet another entry on my backlogged To Be Read list.
As a young space fanatic in the 1960s I built a plastic model kit of the Gemini astronaut with the AMU. Between that and the model of the Gemini capsule with landing skids and Rogallo wing, I saw some of the "What Ifs" of the early spaceflight programs.
Scott if I wasn’t poor I would donate to the cause because I love your videos.
The zip gun thing shows how absurd Mark Watney's iron man maneuver is!
That stunt wasn't in the book.. Blame 'Hollywood'...
I like how you can hear it in his voice if he is reading a script or not.
First vid I've watched since I subbed. I like the setout, it has a curious droid factual feel but without the bad shirts 😁. Well researched and good viewing. Cheers for the upload 🇬🇧👍
I dunno, I kinda like the bad shirts 😂
@@idlemessiah I do tbf lol. Paul's a great presenter.
Very interesting. But I miss the old intro and outro. They had a homemade feel about them that suited this channel far better than these slick ones.
I completely agree. The new ones seem wrong
Quality frickin' content. That's why I love this channel.
great history story!
I was a young weights and mass properties engineer working at Grumman aerospace in the early 1980s. For a couple of years i was on the shuttle wing program. Some time after the MMU suit flew, we received a visit from George “Pinky” Nelson, first man to fly free, untethered, and under his own power. After his talk, we got to ask questions. All were technical. I wanted to know what it felt like to be out in space, all on your own. I wanted an emotional answer but perhaps didn’t ask the question accurately, as I was a bit embarrassed to ask in such a technical setting. But I did ask, simply, how did it feel to fly alone in spce? And he responded with a dry technical description of learning, essentially, how to balance his center of mass and the thrust vectors; asymmetry and inputs. But, I imagine it had to also result in a feeling in the pit of your stomach n matter how well trained you were.
I really love your new intro/outro animations. Whomever was responsible for this truly did an amazing job transforming your already iconic intro/outro.
I really miss the originals personally. Especially the starship intro version. The new ones seem wrong to me somehow.
@@JamesUKE92 It's because the old ones had a more homemade feel, which suits this channel much better IMO.
More excellent content. I really like the new intro/outro graphics! :)
Hah, what a coincidence with Curious Droid discussing EMU's and MMU's just a few days earlier.
I swear these youtubers all conspire to sync up the subject du jour. Amy's Vintage Space also talked recently about the jet boots experiment on Skylab.
Loved the ending !!
Are there any Challenger photos made by Bruce McCandles from afar during his free flight? It would be great to see whole space shuttle in orbit.
A great history of AMU development. Bet there will be more to come. As some have commented, I would be very concerned to be untethered. But I expect more use in future. The Safer unit was a great idea.
_"Stainless steel trousers to save your ass."_ LOL! Gotta love ya, Scott!
Thanks for the improved intro/outro music! Love your videos.
Toothles making your outros and intros, cool :3
I got to meet Bruce McCandless in high school. Nice man. May he rest in peace
Thanks for this video. When I was a fifteen year old kid I saw that iconic photo of the guy in the MMU alone in the blackness of space. To my mind the future was astronauts constructing 2001 A Space Odyssey style hotels in space. I didn’t understand anything about the business of space. Naive kid.
If large complex structures are ever to be built in space a much more robust design will be needed.
As a NASA fan during this entire era, I never could have guessed that I would be getting caught up on all this fascinating detail 40+ years later.
I watch most of your videos, but found this one particularly interesting. Thank you
love this format!!!
This was a fun vid crazy stuff 👍
I really really liked the new outro you had done in the most recent videos. I was kind of disappointed to see it changed to the outro of this video.
I was thinking yesterday, I hope Scott Manley and Curious Android don't overlap each other
The Skylab was so big, they could fly jetpacks INSIDE it.
Love the new outro
As always, another great video. I also like your little intro and ending clip.👍
Jet packs. For some reason, everyone wants to wear a rucksack full of volatile explosives.
I mean, we already ride giant missiles all the way up to space, so why not an explosive backpack?
I don't really want to wear a jetpack unless I can hover long enough to have witty banter with my arch-nemesis. Also arm-mounted rocket launchers. Because otherwise, what's the point?
Hello Scott, I must say a big thanks for your amazing videos, so interesting. Keep well, keep safe and enjoy life.
Another informative and entertaining piece from Scott. 👏
Love this history
Scott Manley? => "Hallow It''s Scott Manley here!" -> [reliable, interersting and good content] -> "I'm Scott Manley, fly safe!!!"
Exceedingly well done. Thanks so much.
Nice. We need mobility units back for the moon. Go for a walk and get tired and low on air. Use the mobility unit. It should work in 1/6 gravity, too!
Mr.manley you sir are a true teacher thank you Fly safe sir and no I'm not second that's not what the comments are for???? Tacos rock🌍🚀🔧😎🙏
You forgot the coolest one, the Marquardt Space Sled. :-)
Awesome video!
I never knew about the MMU
The MMU is insignificant next to the power of the force.
Amazing video, I love how you keep educating us with new facts and stories that happened decades ago. Even being an avid space fan I did not know they used the mmu to get a hold of satellites! I would love some episodes about these "retrieve and release" missions!!