Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcnc!gatech!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!apple!agate!shelby!eos!data.nas.nasa.gov!eagle!news From: spgreg@earth.lerc.nasa.gov (Greg Macrae) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Hydrazine (EVA exposure) Keywords: toxic, spacesuits Message-ID: <1990Nov13.142644.27781@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> Date: 13 Nov 90 14:26:44 GMT References: Reply-To: spgreg@earth.lerc.nasa.gov Distribution: usa Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center Lines: 30 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 In article , ehopper@ehpcb.WLK.COM (Ed Hopper) writes... >There has been some discussion here regarding hydrazine. A friend of >mine, who works for a NASA contractor, once told me that hydrazine is a >major concern when working on a satellite during EVA. Hydrazine is highly >toxic. Contact with the skin can be fatal. Additionally, hydrazine >molecules are small enough to penetrate the fabric of the current EVA >spacesuit. If hydrazine leaked from a satellite during any repair or >refueling, it could be very dangerous for the astronaut in the immediate >vicinity. > >Ed Hopper > The current space suit leaks like a seive. It outgasses at a rate that is unacceptable for use near the space station. There is a benefit to this, however. Because there is a flow of gas out of the suit, nasty chemicals like hydrazine are extremely unlikely to find their way back into the suit during an EVA. The first place an astronaut is likely to contact the hydrazine is in the airlock when hydrazine adsorbed or even frozen to the outside of the suit and EVA equipment can evaporate or sublime. The astronaut is endangered when he unseals his suit. It is a real and serious concern and not just when satellites in the vicinity use hydrazine--the shuttle itself does. -------------------------------------------------------------------- MacRae | Too curious flower | Watching us pass, met death... spgreg@csd.lerc.nasa.gov | Our hungry donkey. | -Basho --------------------------------------------------------------------