Discussion
It's a bit of a 1950s TV sci-fi thing. Anything from low earth orbit downwards is not that "outer" as far as I'm concerned.
You're not really travelling out into space (outer or otherwise) unless you break free of the earth's gravitational pull.
Gus gets a bit of a raw deal in the film "The Right Stuff" (although less so in the book). It is commonly recognised that if he had not died in the Apollo 1 fire, there is a good chance Gus would have been the first man on the moon. He was the first Mercury astronaut to fly, he was commander of the first Gemini mission and he was the commander of the first Apollo mission.
You're not really travelling out into space (outer or otherwise) unless you break free of the earth's gravitational pull.
Gus gets a bit of a raw deal in the film "The Right Stuff" (although less so in the book). It is commonly recognised that if he had not died in the Apollo 1 fire, there is a good chance Gus would have been the first man on the moon. He was the first Mercury astronaut to fly, he was commander of the first Gemini mission and he was the commander of the first Apollo mission.
Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 22 July 07:47
VernalEquinox said:
Eric Mc said:
He was the first Mercury astronaut to fly
The first to fly after Alan Shepherd, anyway. ;-)He was looked on as the most senior astronaut after Shepard - which is why he got the second Mercury flight. He was elevated to No.1 astronaut whgen Shepard was grounded - which is why he was made mission commander of the first Gemini and Apollo flights.
Simpo Two said:
Well anyway, I'm sticking with Plan A: Beyond the solar system 
Which is further than you may think:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud
Agree that the Right Stuff movie strongly hints that he prematurely hit the hatch jettison in the spacecraft. IIRC when Liberty Bell 7 was finally recovered from the ocean decades later it was found that the manual hatch jettison hadn't been operated and that Gus had been right all along.
This always amused me from the film:
Life magazine Boss: "Gus? An astronaut named Gus? What's your middle name?
Grissom: "Ivan."
pause
Boss: "You can be Gus...."
This always amused me from the film:
Life magazine Boss: "Gus? An astronaut named Gus? What's your middle name?
Grissom: "Ivan."
pause
Boss: "You can be Gus...."
speedtwelve said:
Agree that the Right Stuff movie strongly hints that he prematurely hit the hatch jettison in the spacecraft. IIRC when Liberty Bell 7 was finally recovered from the ocean decades later it was found that the manual hatch jettison hadn't been operated and that Gus had been right all along.
There is also a rumour that a a result of this incident, the Apollo 1 hatch was deliberately designed not to open too easily........No.
Design of the original Apollo spacecraft began in 1958/59. Apollo was originally looked on as the follow-on the America's first manned spacecraft, the Mercury capsule. The need for an interim programme (which became Gemini) was not recognised at this early stage.
The main concern of the spacecraft engineers in the late 1950s was not ease of access or exit of the spacecraft, but structural integrity. They didn't want the thing to spring a leak in space. They therefore did not want ANY sort of openable devices such as hatches in the spacecraft. They weren't even keen on windows or portholes. The Mercury astronauts had to fight hard for a proper window in the Mercury.
This meant that the original hatches were bolted shut by the pad closeout crew on the launchpad - and were not intended to be opened until the crew were safely back on the ground. This was also the thinking behind the early Apollo capsules.
When Apollo became a lunar landing mission, it became obvious that spacewalking (or EVA) was going to become a necessary part of spaceflight. Now the need to have an openable hatch became imperative. It was too late for Mercury (Mercury's hatch was NEVER designed to be opened in space).
Gemini was in the process of being designed around EVAs so always had an openable hatch in the design.
Apollo was already well into its design process (with an unopenable hatch) so a radical rethink was necessary. This was all happening around 1962/63 by the way.
It was decided to go ahead with the original "simple" Apollo design (now renamed Block I) but to commence a redesign (christened Block II).
The first Apollo missions (which would have no EVAs or Lunar Modules) were going to use Block I capsules and then later missions would use Block II (with the openable hatch).
In the event, the only Block I mission (Apollo 1) was cancelled when the capsule caught fire and killed the crew. As a result, no manned missions were ever flown using Block I capsules.
Design of the original Apollo spacecraft began in 1958/59. Apollo was originally looked on as the follow-on the America's first manned spacecraft, the Mercury capsule. The need for an interim programme (which became Gemini) was not recognised at this early stage.
The main concern of the spacecraft engineers in the late 1950s was not ease of access or exit of the spacecraft, but structural integrity. They didn't want the thing to spring a leak in space. They therefore did not want ANY sort of openable devices such as hatches in the spacecraft. They weren't even keen on windows or portholes. The Mercury astronauts had to fight hard for a proper window in the Mercury.
This meant that the original hatches were bolted shut by the pad closeout crew on the launchpad - and were not intended to be opened until the crew were safely back on the ground. This was also the thinking behind the early Apollo capsules.
When Apollo became a lunar landing mission, it became obvious that spacewalking (or EVA) was going to become a necessary part of spaceflight. Now the need to have an openable hatch became imperative. It was too late for Mercury (Mercury's hatch was NEVER designed to be opened in space).
Gemini was in the process of being designed around EVAs so always had an openable hatch in the design.
Apollo was already well into its design process (with an unopenable hatch) so a radical rethink was necessary. This was all happening around 1962/63 by the way.
It was decided to go ahead with the original "simple" Apollo design (now renamed Block I) but to commence a redesign (christened Block II).
The first Apollo missions (which would have no EVAs or Lunar Modules) were going to use Block I capsules and then later missions would use Block II (with the openable hatch).
In the event, the only Block I mission (Apollo 1) was cancelled when the capsule caught fire and killed the crew. As a result, no manned missions were ever flown using Block I capsules.
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